8 Dimensions of Automation Readiness · A framework by Brian Simpson
This framework helps teams identify their collective strengths and gaps across 8 dimensions of automation capability — regardless of industry, size, or technical maturity.
The core insight: the biggest barrier to automation is not technical skill — it is process thinking, team composition, and role awareness. No single person covers all archetypes. Teams assess collectively and use the gap analysis to guide hiring, training, or partnership decisions.
Individual Assessment tab: Enter the name of the person being assessed, then score their capability 0–10 on each archetype. Expand each archetype to read the sub-archetype descriptions and ask: does this person demonstrate these characteristics? Use Export to save as JSON, or click + Add to Team Assessment to include them in the team view.
Team Assessment tab: Collect assessments from multiple people and overlay them on the same radar. Where perspectives diverge, that disagreement is signal. Where they converge on low scores, those are your most urgent gaps. Use Generate Report to produce a printable PDF summary of the team’s capability profile.
| Total (out of 80) | Profile |
|---|---|
| 0–20 | Automation Newcomer |
| 21–35 | Developing Contributor |
| 36–50 | Capable Generalist |
| 51–65 | Strong Practitioner |
| 66–80 | Automation All-Rounder |
| Score | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0–2 | No demonstrated capability in this area |
| 3–4 | Emerging — shows instinct but no consistent, structured practice |
| 5–6 | Functional — can contribute meaningfully, but with notable gaps |
| 7–8 | Strong — reliable and practiced; others lean on them here |
| 9–10 | Exceptional — a defining strength; sets the standard |
| Framework | Source |
|---|---|
| Theory of Constraints | Eliyahu M. Goldratt & Jeff Cox, The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement (1984) |
| Lean / Toyota Production System | Taiichi Ohno, Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production (1988); James P. Womack & Daniel T. Jones, Lean Thinking (1996) |
| Design Thinking | IDEO, The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design; Stanford d.school, Design Thinking Resources |
| Agile / Scrum | Beck et al., Manifesto for Agile Software Development (2001); Jeff Sutherland & Ken Schwaber, The Scrum Guide |
| Diffusion of Innovations | Everett M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations (5th ed., 2003) |
| Kotter's 8-Step Change Model | John P. Kotter, Leading Change (1996) |
| Prosci ADKAR | Jeff Hiatt, ADKAR: A Model for Change in Business, Government and Our Community (2006); Prosci ADKAR Model Overview |
| RACI Matrix | Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) |
| Team Topologies | Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais, Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow (2019); teamtopologies.com |
| Cynefin Framework | Dave Snowden & Mary Boone, “A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making” (Harvard Business Review, 2007) |
| FMEA | US Military Procedure MIL-P-1629 (1949); ASQ FMEA Overview |
| Thinking in Systems | Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems: A Primer (2008, posthumous ed.) |
| Co-Intelligence / AI Collaboration | Ethan Mollick, Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI (2024); One Useful Thing (Substack) |
| Tacit vs. Explicit Knowledge | Ikujiro Nonaka & Hirotaka Takeuchi, The Knowledge-Creating Company (1995) |
| Jobs To Be Done | Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon & David S. Duncan, Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice (2016) |
| Pre-Mortem Analysis | Gary Klein, “Performing a Project Premortem” (Harvard Business Review, 2007) |
This framework is open source. Found an issue, have a suggestion, or want to contribute? Visit the project repository on GitHub.