New & Improved Free Skill Matrix Template (v. 7.31.07)

New and improved free skill matrix template: these are beautiful words to the ears of a Lean thinker. Thanks to the Excel skills of our Lean office guru Marcie MacRae, we have “the kaizen of the month for July 2007” at Gemba. The color-filling of the four-quadrant skill grid has been improved in version 7.31.07 of this skill matrix template.

What does version 7.31.07 of the Free Skill Matrix Template do? You simply enter a number between 0 and 5 in the top right cell of each skill box (outer box, not inner box that is colored in), and Excel will automatically fill in the color. Note that there is a “0” in cell E2 above, and as a result, no color. Entering numbers 1 through 4 will give you one, two, three or four blue cells respectively, while a 5 will give you four yellow cells.

Note the value of “3” in cell Q2, coloring 3 of 4 blue quadrants blue. How does it work? It is through the magic of something called conditional formatting, I am told. If you know how this works, you can change values, colors, etc.

Have you ever thought “There must be a better way” about something? The big secret that everyone knows in their heart, but seems to forget in their head: there always is a better way. This simple example just goes to show.

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