individual development plan

Also called: development plan, IDP, personal development plan

A short written plan, owned by the person and agreed with the lead, naming one or two skills to grow, the work that will stretch them, the support needed and how progress will be seen. Most growth comes from real assignments with feedback, not from courses alone.

An individual development plan (IDP) is a short written plan for a person's growth over the next months. It names one or two areas to grow, the real work the person will practice on, the support they will get (pairing, feedback, time, sometimes a course), how both of you will see progress, and a date to review it. It fits on half a page.

The plan belongs to the person. They draft it; the lead adds ideas, opportunities and support. A plan the lead writes alone and hands over is a list of the lead's wishes, and it rarely survives the first busy month. People grow at work mostly by doing harder work with feedback: a stretch assignment, a new area to own, standing in for someone. Courses help when they feed a real task the person is about to do, much less as a certificate on their own.

Growth doesn't have to go up. Some people want to lead one day; others want to go deeper in their craft, and that path deserves the same recognition and the same seriousness. It's fine for someone not to want a plan for a while; ask what keeps the work interesting and keep the door open. Keep the plan separate from the evaluation: the review looks back at what happened, the plan looks forward. Revisit it at regular one-to-ones, not only once a year.

Example

August 2027, review season at Klasna. Maryna has said she doesn't want to manage anyone, at least not now, and that she wants to explain the refund policy better to upset parents. Her growth goes deeper, not up. She drafts; the lead adds the numbers. In the team's per-type data (six months to February) she had solved 40 refund requests and handed up 45, a solo rate of 40 / 85 = 47.06%, with 5.00% reopened (2 of 40). The team's rule for deciding a ticket type alone ("decide, tell me after") asks for at least 50 solved and under 5% reopened.

Part	Maryna's plan, September–December 2027
Area to grow	Decide refund requests alone; explain the policy clearly on calls with upset parents
Real work	Take refund tickets from the queue by default; own the refund help articles
Support	Pairs with Olha on refund exceptions for four weeks; the lead listens to two calls a month and gives feedback
How we'll know	At least 10 more refund requests solved alone, reopens on refunds staying under 5%; the two most-asked refund questions rewritten in the help articles
Review	At one-to-ones in October and November; full review in December

Nothing in it is a course, and every line can be checked.

Common mistakes

The lead writes it alone. The person drafts; you add. Otherwise it's your wish list.
A list of courses instead of work. Growth comes from stretch assignments with feedback; courses support them.
Too many areas. One or two areas a person can actually practice beat six good intentions.
No evidence and no date. Say how you'll both see progress, and when you'll look.
Only one direction. Going deeper in the craft is growth too, not a lesser path.

Learn it in the course

Development plans, handover and being away · Write growth plans with people, not for them, lower the bus factor, and leave a handover note so the team runs while you're away.