The zone of proximal development

On [#stanier-effective-manager], 5th chapter

Learning happens in three steps:

1. Something cannot be done
2. Something can be done with assistance
3. Something can be done without assistance

Lev Vygatsky introduced during the 1930s the idea of a zone of proximal development. And this is what happens on step (2).

When it comes to work, we can apply this idea at two levels:

• Task: always try to delegate tasks that are on the zone of proximal development for your staff

• Career: help people establish steps to achive their goals. The book uses gaming skill trees as an example. Also try to keep steps within the zone of proximal development

  #todo Some things to follow up on:

  • The three steps things reminds me a lot of Feynmans approach to learning
  • The book mentions Jean Piaget theories, I should probably look into those
  • Paulo Freire's work is probably relevant here

[#stanier-effective-manager]: Stanier, Dr. James. Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager. 1st ed. S.l.: Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2020.