> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dacard.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Run a quick self-assessment

> Read your team's maturity in minutes and walk away with the next move.

<Note>
  Three ways to assess: a 30-second URL score on a shipped product, a 3-5 minute Signal Card on your own craft, or a 5-10 minute lifecycle self-assessment. Pick the one that fits your situation.
</Note>

# Run a quick self-assessment

As an IC, you want a fast read on where your team operates today, so you can surface the highest-impact moves and bring concrete recommendations into your next planning session.

## Pick your path

We offer three assessments. Pick the one that fits.

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="URL score" icon="globe">
    **Best for:** reading a shipped product's public surface. 30 seconds. Automated read across 27 dimensions.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Signal Card" icon="id-card">
    **Best for:** reading your own craft and decision patterns as an IC. 3-5 minutes. Available for PM, Design, Engineering, Data, Operations, GTM. No account needed.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Lifecycle assessment" icon="clipboard-check">
    **Best for:** reading your team's internal practice and build process. 5-10 minutes. Self-reported with structured guidance.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Get your Signal Card

The Signal Card reads your craft and decision patterns, not your product. 3-5 minutes, no account.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open dacard.ai/product-score">
    Head to [dacard.ai/product-score](https://www.dacard.ai/product-score). No sign-in needed.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick your function">
    PM, Design, Engineering, Data, Operations, or GTM.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick your seniority">
    Associate, Mid, Senior, Staff, or Lead. We use this to calibrate the benchmark.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Run the three-part assessment">
    Pick 6-8 practices that reflect your work, rate your confidence across 5 areas, and write a brief read on a recent decision.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review and share">
    Your Signal Card surfaces top dimensions, growth opportunities, a narrative summary, and a peer percentile. Share via link or export as an image.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Run a URL score

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open /score">
    Head to [app.dacard.ai/score](https://app.dacard.ai/score).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Drop your product URL">
    Use the main marketing or landing page for the broadest signal coverage.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Teach DAC (optional)">
    Click **Add context** to drop a brief read on what your product does. We use that to ground products with thin public surface.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Read your receipts">
    The maturity report shows scores across all 27 dimensions in 6 functions: Strategy, Design, Development, Operations, GTM, Intelligence.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Run a lifecycle assessment

The lifecycle assessment reads your team's build process through 6 stages and 36 tasks.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Lifecycle tab">
    Pick a product in your dashboard, open the **Lifecycle** tab.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Work through each stage">
    For each of the 36 tasks, mark your team's status: **not started**, **in progress**, or **done**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Read your placement">
    We surface which lifecycle stage your team sits in and the completion percentage per stage.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  Be honest. Overstating progress produces recommendations that are too advanced for where you actually are. The most useful score reflects reality, not aspiration.
</Tip>

## Reading your results as an IC

Three things to look at first.

### 1. Your function scores

Look at the 6 function averages. The function most relevant to your role is your primary lever. PM: Strategy and Operations. Engineer: Development and Intelligence. Designer: Design and Operations. GTM: GTM and Strategy.

### 2. Your bottom 3 dimensions

These are your biggest gaps. Read the evidence and reasoning for each. Ask yourself: "Is this low because we genuinely lack capability here, or because the capability isn't visible externally?" If it's the latter, teach DAC by adding context (tribal notes) so the next score lands closer to truth.

### 3. The next-move recommendations

Each dimension carries a specific, calibrated next move. They're ordered by impact. Start with the first.

## Tie it to your daily work

The most effective way to use the assessment is to tie it to work you're already doing.

* **Cycle planning:** bring your top 3 gap dimensions into the next planning session as improvement candidates
* **Retros:** compare your team's perception of strengths with what the data shows
* **1:1s:** share your individual function scores with your manager to align on growth
* **PRDs:** reference your maturity placement when scoping new work ("We're at Scaling on Delivery Velocity, so we invest in CI/CD before adding more features")

## What's next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Read your report" icon="chart-bar" href="/knowledge-base/ic-understand-report">
    Walk through what each dimension, cluster, and pattern means.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Coach with DAC" icon="message-bot" href="/knowledge-base/ic-coaching">
    Ask DAC for a personalized improvement plan grounded in your scores.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Map your lifecycle" icon="arrows-spin" href="/knowledge-base/ic-lifecycle-checklist">
    Run the full lifecycle assessment to track build-process maturity.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Benchmark against peers" icon="scale-balanced" href="/knowledge-base/leader-benchmarks">
    See how your scores read against peers at your stage and company size.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What does Signal Card actually evaluate?">
    Signal Card reads three signals about you: the practices you've adopted (selected from a function-specific list), your confidence across 5 craft areas, and a short prose read on a recent decision. We blend those into a per-dimension score, surface your top dimensions and growth areas, write a narrative summary, and place you on a peer percentile. It's a craft read, not a product read.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I retake an assessment?">
    Yes. URL scores can be re-run anytime (they cost 10 credits each). Signal Cards can be retaken without limit; we keep your most recent version. The Lifecycle assessment is open-ended; you can update task statuses anytime as practice evolves.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What's the rate limit for URL scoring?">
    Free: 5 scores per month. Pro: 50 per month. Business: 200 per month. Enterprise: custom. Anonymous: 1 per hour, capped at 5 per day per IP. See [Plans and billing](/knowledge-base/plans-billing).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>