In mid-2015 I proposed to my boss two exam programmes for my team members. One programme for the web team (the Microsoft HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3 MCP exam) and one for the integrations team (the Programming in C# MCP).
I convinced my boss of the benefits of the exam – to the company and to individuals. My boss agreed to buy books and to pay for exam vouchers.
I set both teams the goal of passing their exams by their next appraisal – this gave them just under 12 months – to June 2016. The exam vouchers themselves expired in March 2017 – far longer than the team members would need (or so I thought).
The only expense required of the team members was their time and motivation.
Within the integrations team I organised a regular lunchtime reading club. One team member is in a remote site and could not attend, so I let him study at his own pace.
I encouraged the web team to run their own reading club – they chose to organise this during working hours, and to shuffle their work commitments around it.
Of the six integrations team members: four passed within the original time frame, by their next appraisal. However, two didn’t and in fact ran out of time – the voucher expired. Fortunately, we were able to cascade one voucher on to another team member who could use it, but one voucher was wasted!
I had enforced the reading club schedule and had encouraged the team members to maintain their progress. Yet one of the team members that did not take their exam does not use C# day-to-day. The other team member whose voucher was wasted was the guy in the remote office that I left to his own devices.
The web team’s reading club was often skipped due to work commitments. All three members passed, though they missed the appraisal deadline that I had set by some margin. They did take their exams, however, before their vouchers expired.
It’s interesting to note that the web team is studying for another exam this year, whereas the integrations team is not.
Here are some stats:
Clearly, it’s not a massive pool of data, so any conclusions will be loose at best.
However, these results suggest:
Overall I call that a success!
I convinced my boss of the benefits of the exam – to the company and to individuals. My boss agreed to buy books and to pay for exam vouchers.
I set both teams the goal of passing their exams by their next appraisal – this gave them just under 12 months – to June 2016. The exam vouchers themselves expired in March 2017 – far longer than the team members would need (or so I thought).
The only expense required of the team members was their time and motivation.
Within the integrations team I organised a regular lunchtime reading club. One team member is in a remote site and could not attend, so I let him study at his own pace.
I encouraged the web team to run their own reading club – they chose to organise this during working hours, and to shuffle their work commitments around it.
Of the six integrations team members: four passed within the original time frame, by their next appraisal. However, two didn’t and in fact ran out of time – the voucher expired. Fortunately, we were able to cascade one voucher on to another team member who could use it, but one voucher was wasted!
I had enforced the reading club schedule and had encouraged the team members to maintain their progress. Yet one of the team members that did not take their exam does not use C# day-to-day. The other team member whose voucher was wasted was the guy in the remote office that I left to his own devices.
The web team’s reading club was often skipped due to work commitments. All three members passed, though they missed the appraisal deadline that I had set by some margin. They did take their exams, however, before their vouchers expired.
It’s interesting to note that the web team is studying for another exam this year, whereas the integrations team is not.
Here are some stats:
| Team | Integrations | Web |
|---|---|---|
| Number of members | 6 | 3 |
| Reading club during working hours | No | Yes |
| Reading club regularly held | Yes | No |
| Passed within original timeframe (appraisal) | 4 | 0 |
| Passed by voucher expiry | 4 | 3 |
| Wasted voucher | 1 | 0 |
| Studying for exams this year | No | Yes |
Clearly, it’s not a massive pool of data, so any conclusions will be loose at best.
However, these results suggest:
- Holding teams to a schedule can ensure a reasonable amount of success by a particular deadline
- Self-motivating teams can take longer to achieve results – but those results may be more complete and longer lasting
- Self-motivation is a personal thing – some people have it, some don’t
- Mutual support (the reading club) is much more effective than solo effort – I do regret not organising a video (or telephone) conference with the team member in the remote site
Overall I call that a success!
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