PDP-Adaptive Question Loop

Purpose

A personal development plan should change what the platform asks. It should not simply attach static notes to an annual report.

The adaptive loop needs to distinguish:

• baseline behavior
• intended action
• actual action taken
• evidence observed by others
• support or blocker
• outcome and sustainability

Repeating the same rating question every week is usually weaker than using a purposeful sequence.

PDP states

• Draft
• Active
• Paused
• Completed
• Abandoned
• Archived

Only active goals normally affect question recurrence.

Goal creation sources

• Individual manually creates a goal.
• Manager or coach proposes a goal and the individual accepts it.
• A native 360 report offers a theme for selection.
• An imported Thomas or other assessment offers an external theme for selection.
• A repeated longitudinal pattern triggers a suggestion.
• Comment analysis proposes a theme for human confirmation.

A single low score must not automatically create a goal.

Question links

A PDP goal may link to:

• one or more constructs
• primary behavior family
• action-check family
• evidence family
• support/blocker family
• outcome family
• selected respondents or observer group

Override modes

Replace skip periods

Use a PDP-specific number instead of the base cooldown.

Example: base skip_periods = 3; PDP skip_periods = 1.

Minimum skip periods

PDP may lengthen but not shorten the base interval.

Maximum skip periods

PDP may shorten but not lengthen the base interval.

Force next once

Equivalent to the requested value 0 for one future survey. It creates a consumable obligation:

• eligible in the next survey instance after the current survey
• cannot appear twice in the same survey
• consumed only when presented successfully
• expires or escalates after a configured date

Suppress until milestone

Useful when a behavior should not be re-rated before an action has had time to occur.

Precedence and safeguards

Recommended order:

1. Legal, privacy, and tenant suppression
2. Subject or respondent opt-out where applicable
3. Absolute fatigue cap
4. Mandatory safety or compliance item
5. PDP force-next obligation
6. Other PDP override
7. Pack override
8. Family base cooldown

PDP cannot bypass:

• hard privacy restrictions
• an invalid respondent relationship
• minimum observation-window requirements
• maximum consecutive exposure safeguards
• a user’s leave or program pause unless explicitly allowed

Suggested PDP sequence

Baseline

“How consistently did the target behavior occur during the last month?”

Action commitment

“What specific action will you take before the next check-in?”

Action check

“What happened when you tried the action?”

Observer evidence

“During the last month, what change did you observe in the target behavior?”

Support and blockers

“What support, context, or decision would make the behavior easier to sustain?”

Outcome

“What changed for the team, customer, delivery flow, or decision quality?”

Sustainability

“What will keep this behavior in place after the PDP closes?”

Example

Goal: Close the loop after feedback.

Base family recurrence:

cadence_unit: MONTH
skip_periods: 2

Active PDP override:

pdp_override:
  mode: force_next_once
  applies_to_relationships: [self, direct_report]
  active_from: 2026-08-01
  expires_at: 2026-09-30
  max_consecutive_surveys: 2
  consume_on: presented

After the forced next survey, the goal may switch to:

pdp_override:
  mode: replace_skip_periods
  skip_periods: 1
  valid_until_milestone: evidence_review_2

Progress model

Do not define PDP progress as a single average score. Show separate evidence:

• action completion
• self observation
• manager observation
• peer/direct-report observation
• narrative examples
• relevant outcome signal
• time sustained

The platform may summarize these into a status such as On track, Needs attention, or Insufficient evidence, but the underlying evidence remains visible.

Completion

A goal may complete when:

• required actions are completed
• at least one observer check is available, if appropriate
• the behavior is sustained across the configured period
• the individual and goal owner confirm closure

After completion:

• remove the active override
• apply a maintenance cooldown
• schedule a later sustainability check
• preserve the history according to data-retention policy