There is no single correct way to develop soft skills, and SSE itself is an activity that forces exploration and choice. However, trying to figure things out from scratch puts you at a disadvantage. So, I’ll introduce a few tools I created as the proponent of SSE.
As stated in 6T, if we call something a Tool, it must be usable in practical terms. Also, rather than hard tools like hardware or software, it refers to soft tools such as templates and checklists. In this chapter as well, I’d like to get as close as possible to presenting such soft tools.
I deliberately left myself an out by writing “as close as possible.” That’s because it isn’t always possible to turn something into a soft tool. Or even if it is, it may end up being dozens or even hundreds of pages long. This applies to SSE in general: it’s not simply a matter of making everything strictly “tool-ified.” What matters is the balance between the concrete and the abstract. Something concrete but 200 pages long, something abstract but 3 pages long, or something that mixes the concrete and the abstract well in 20 pages—any of these can happen, and which is optimal depends on the situation. In this chapter, I’ll take the third approach. I’ll keep it compact and somewhat on the abstract side, while also incorporating enough information for you to use it in a concrete way.