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How Adobe Got Rid of Traditional Performance Reviews

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Re: How Adobe Got Rid of Traditional Performance Reviews

#11

Post by Shivetya »

codegeek wrote: post #5

Annual Performance Reviews is one of the reasons why I chose to be a consultant. Really. I always have a smile on my face when my boss announces the dreaded annual review time in a meeting and then looks at me and goes "Not you of course". Love the feeling that I don't have to worry about that crap. You may not like Adobe for many reasons but this move is definitely worth a welcome. It is high time companies stop thi…

What is worse about performance reviews is the categories tend to change from year to year. Sometimes if not always the first time an employee is made aware of a category is when the review forms land on their desk. Its even worse for self review companies. Then you have those which declare all that "below expectations" ratings is the new normal as no one doesn't have an area they cannot improve.

All in all, what a great way to demoralize your people and what a rotten tool to give to groups of managers to take out their pettiness against those they dislike. Hint, groups are meaner that single reviews.

Re: How Adobe Got Rid of Traditional Performance Reviews

#12

Post by herge »

darklajid wrote: post #4

Hi, my name is Ben and I just filled out my first 'traditional' performance review ever. I guess the company's trying to act mature or something. I feel like sharing.. The whole form was full of buzzwords, felt moronic and - useless. You were supposed to judge yourself in various ways, with arbitrary scales and that thing was full of vague descriptions that could've just as easily been part of a horoscope. Or .. a fo…

The thing to remember about performance reviews (especially for technical people who's responsibilities don't change that much) is that your first one takes forever to write, but then you can copy-paste from year-to-year.

Re: How Adobe Got Rid of Traditional Performance Reviews

#14

Post by Ensorceled »

I gave up on the effectiveness of yearly performance reviews more than 20 years ago when I got a bad review for spending 20% of my time on internal company support instead of 10%. I had been sending my boss weekly reports all year and the week before my review he added up the time and decided my priorities were wrong. That review cost me more than 4K in bonuses and raises. Protesting to the VP made no difference.

When I resigned two days later the SVP got involved, gave me almost 10K in bonuses and raises and promoted me to a lead role on another team to keep me.

I've seen nothing but problems ever since; morale issues caused by disappointing raises and bonuses, problem employees left to fester until the review, a week or more of lost productivity as everybody fills in massive 360 surveys and then argues over them for.

Weekly 1-1 meetings with regular review checkpoints make far more sense.

Re: How Adobe Got Rid of Traditional Performance Reviews

#15

Post by yofx »

This certainly is good improvement. However ,for this method to work you really have to have good manager who understands issues, have vision and puts Org. interest and employees interest before self interest. Since I started my career I had couple of selfish , egocentric and narcissistic managers ( mostly Indians, sorry but truth) who literally tried to block my career path. So I would suggest not just have everything done by your manager , which apparently leads to bureaucracy, rather have at least another check ( another manager, group) review what your manager is saying.

Re: How Adobe Got Rid of Traditional Performance Reviews

#17

Post by drcube »

lmm wrote: post #10
RogerL wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's essentially an ad hom. Their product ability has nothing to do with the merits of the HR.

The measure of good HR should be a successful company.

The measure of a good janitorial staff should be a successful company.

Re: How Adobe Got Rid of Traditional Performance Reviews

#18

Post by hopeless »

The headline is a little misleading: they got rid of annual performance reviews in favour of more frequent performance discussions.

I'm working for a startup building a performance plan/review SaaS app and we've always tried to encourage customers to use 3-4month reviews periods — but almost all are wedded to the idea of annual reviews.

If you're stuck on an annual cycle, at least make sure the manager and employee have regular meetings so those goals and the current progress are frequently in the forefront of their minds. There's no point getting to December and then remembering what you and your team were supposed to be doing

Don't set 2 A4 pages full of "goals", including unverifiable stuff like "maintaining a happy, positive atmosphere" like my managers at IBM did. Set 3-4 clear goals with defined metrics (hint: if there's not a metric to measure, it's not a goal). Some goals are also amenable to breaking down into milestones.

Re: How Adobe Got Rid of Traditional Performance Reviews

#19

Post by garenp »

ajays wrote: post #3

I dunno... given the perpetual problems with Flash, the password leaks, etc., I wouldn't hold up Adobe as a paragon of excellence.

It's pretty notable, given that Adobe is a fairly large and well known company that is dropping performance reviews altogether.

Re: How Adobe Got Rid of Traditional Performance Reviews

#20

Post by garenp »

hopeless wrote: post #18

The headline is a little misleading: they got rid of annual performance reviews in favour of more frequent performance discussions. I'm working for a startup building a performance plan/review SaaS app and we've always tried to encourage customers to use 3-4month reviews periods — but almost all are wedded to the idea of annual reviews. If you're stuck on an annual cycle, at least make sure the manager and employee h…

The problem with setting very concrete goals like this, is that whenever you don't precisely meet them, they can be made to be a knock against you. As a result, it's then in your interest to set goals that are as easy to achieve as possible. I can't imagine that aiming for mediocrity serves the company or the employee well.
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