Personality assessments are well intentioned. They are supposed to help us understand ourselves and each other. Many of them are also grounded in scientific / psychological theory. There are a few I’ve used that worked quite well - the Enneagram is one of my favorites.

But there is so much about the experience of taking these tests that gets in the way of their efficacy.

First, taking the test is a painful experience. As an individual, filling out surveys often over 50-100 questions takes a long time because of poorly designed user interfaces. It’s also difficult to measure or assess progress for a specific dimension of personal growth over time.

Those are just some issues for individuals. As a team, administering tests is fraught with similar usability issues.

Second, the data is in employers control vs the employees taking the test. Sometimes it’s as simple as tests being sent to old work email accounts - but other times a workplace administers a test and locks in data without any control from employees. For something as personal as a personality profile, this doesn’t seem right.

Third, your test is hard to share with others. Sure it’s easy to share a PDF with a slack channel - but most people don’t feel comfortable sharing all of their weaknesses with others. How a personality test is shared - or specific results from a test - is a clear problem.

While personality tests are a great tool to understand ourselves and each other - these are real problems that get in the way of their full potential.