A while back, an exam question introduced me to a taxonomy developed by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom. In researching this work, I was immediately struck by how useful it could be when making decisions about technical staff. Bloom’s taxonomy is composed of three domains. The cognitive domain includes six hierarchical levels (from lowest to highest):

• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Evaluation

Applying these levels can help guide the interview process and provide a measure of a candidate’s abilities. With many technical jobs, though, it’s preferable to ignore the knowledge level. “Knowledge” in this context refers to memorized facts. Some interviews, especially phone screens, tend toward being entirely focused around the knowledge level. Even interviews that are based around programming exercises potentially overemphasize recitation over application. It is far too easy for a nervous interviewee to underperform on memorized facts. In real-world tasks, references are available for facts.

Once a person is hired, they need to be assigned work. If tasks are rated at the level they require, they can be matched to people at the required level. Tracking a person’s task levels can be beneficial as well. Giving someone tasks lower than they’re capable of will erode morale over time (and is a waste of resources), but someone who never gets lower level tasks could probably use a break. By the same token, giving people the occasional higher-level task gives them growth opportunities but too many can cause undue stress. If employees largely self-select tasks, a drop in level can be a warning sign of wider problems.

Of course, such applications are not new. Bloom’s taxonomy, by its very inclusion in an IT project management exam, is clearly not newly applied. It’s just interesting to me that a taxonomy developed for education some 60 years ago could fit technology staffing so well. If it’s new to me, then it’s probably new to someone else, too.