Performance Reviews Are a Waste of Time • Hacker News Board

Re: Performance Reviews Are a Waste of Time

#301

Post by GordonS » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 7:02 AM UTC

adrianmonk wrote: post #129

Paraphrasing what a manager told me once: "If anything in your performance review is a surprise, then I have failed as a manager." Coaching is not a purpose of a performance review. The coaching and communication should be an ongoing process that happens before the review. Problems should be brought up early enough that you have a chance to change or improve before it gets to the point of being written in a review. I…

This doesn't really work in organisationa with a high manager turnover. Where I work, I've had 12 managers in 15 years, so each manager doesn't really know me, or the 'goodwill' I have within our organisation and with our customers. They really are a waste of time at some orgs.

Re: Performance Reviews Are a Waste of Time

#302

Post by toomanybeersies » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 7:09 AM UTC

lskadf93idk wrote: post #262

adrianmonk wrote: post #129

Paraphrasing what a manager told me once: "If anything in your performance review is a surprise, then I have failed as a manager." Coaching is not a purpose of a performance review. The coaching and communication should be an ongoing process that happens before the review. Problems should be brought up early enough that you have a chance to change or improve before it gets to the point of being written in a review. I…

We have performance reviews not annually, but every few years. My last review, the head of our division got really angry with me and gave me a very negative, punitive review. What I am infuriated about is that never in that few years did I receive any negative feedback, and I tried to do exactly what our subdivision had decided as a group to do, and what the immediate superior had wanted. My last review was glowing,…

I had something similar happen at my old company, an 8 person startup.

I was more or less asked to quit (coincidently I was planning to hand my notice in that day anyway) by the CEO. Never once had the CEO actually pulled me aside or talked to me about his perceived problems with me. He was perfectly happy with the quantity and quality of work I put out, but apparently there were cultural and attitude issues or something.

I was supposed to have a performance review/catchup every 3 months, I was very low contact with the CEO as he worked remotely and traveled a lot. I had never heard any problems from my supervisor before this final meeting with the CEO.

It was pretty shitty when he started bringing up things that he had problems with that happened 3 or 6 months ago. Things that I had never gotten more than a snarky slack message about.

Maybe if I had had those reviews, I would've worked on whatever issues he had, I may have been a happier employee and not wanted to quit, and he may have ended up with a nicer employee he didn't want to fire.

It really pissed me off and unfortunately (for both of us, really), I never got to tell him how I felt about the whole situation, as I wanted to get a good reference for my next job (which incidentally pays double what I was earning).

Re: Performance Reviews Are a Waste of Time

#303

Post by sireat » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 7:45 AM UTC

mrhappyunhappy wrote: post #273

scarface74 wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power. There are one or two that I feel are unethical (Law #7 in particular).

Are you for real with this? This is the dumbest books I've seen in a while. Don't outshine the Masters? Wtf kind of cringey corporate hell scenario did this come from...

This book might seem dumb at age 20 until you get blindsided by the rules at age 40.

#1 is fantastic advice. If you make your master insecure you are finished at that location. You either have to quit or move up/elsewhere in the organization.

If you are going to shine then you have to shine in ways that are not in direct competition to your immediate masters.

Even a seemingly great workplace can turn toxic very quickly

Re: Performance Reviews Are a Waste of Time

#304

Post by letsgetphysITal » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 8:14 AM UTC

lskadf93idk wrote: post #262

adrianmonk wrote: post #129

Paraphrasing what a manager told me once: "If anything in your performance review is a surprise, then I have failed as a manager." Coaching is not a purpose of a performance review. The coaching and communication should be an ongoing process that happens before the review. Problems should be brought up early enough that you have a chance to change or improve before it gets to the point of being written in a review. I…

We have performance reviews not annually, but every few years. My last review, the head of our division got really angry with me and gave me a very negative, punitive review. What I am infuriated about is that never in that few years did I receive any negative feedback, and I tried to do exactly what our subdivision had decided as a group to do, and what the immediate superior had wanted. My last review was glowing,…

How long ago was this? You could take it up with someone higher up the food chain, providing you can demonstrate your successes and prove the review is unjust. A decent company doesn't want to lose talented, hard working employees through the malicious actions of middle managers.

Re: Performance Reviews Are a Waste of Time

#305

Post by misja111 » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 8:39 AM UTC

lskadf93idk wrote: post #262

adrianmonk wrote: post #129

Paraphrasing what a manager told me once: "If anything in your performance review is a surprise, then I have failed as a manager." Coaching is not a purpose of a performance review. The coaching and communication should be an ongoing process that happens before the review. Problems should be brought up early enough that you have a chance to change or improve before it gets to the point of being written in a review. I…

We have performance reviews not annually, but every few years. My last review, the head of our division got really angry with me and gave me a very negative, punitive review. What I am infuriated about is that never in that few years did I receive any negative feedback, and I tried to do exactly what our subdivision had decided as a group to do, and what the immediate superior had wanted. My last review was glowing,…

Sounds like it's time to move on. Every once in a while you'll run into some incompentent manager like that. The best thing to do is look for better opportunities elsewhere, move on and never look back.

Re: Performance Reviews Are a Waste of Time

#306

Post by robocat » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 9:18 AM UTC

Mandatum wrote: post #296

mrhappyunhappy wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could have been a positioning move to justify firing down the road. I freelance now but when I went through 9-5 I found the key to positive outcomes was always tied to confidence. The confidence I tried to harness cane in a form of acting like I was the boss with nobody above me. I found that my own bosses saw this as a strength and never questioned my judgement. Even when someone came back with logical counterpoi…

> Even when someone came back with logical counterpoints I'd stick up for my opinion very aggressively. I hate this so much. I hate it even more, because it's mostly true that it works. YMMV, and I'm talking of non-technical organisations or organisation where tech is a cost-centre rather than value-add. Those who don't fully understand it (it being whatever technical disagreement or choice made), which is usually th…

Do you tell your clients before taking on work about your requirements, or is it first strike you're out?

Re: Performance Reviews Are a Waste of Time

#307

Post by Cakez0r » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 9:31 AM UTC

rrggrr wrote: post #22

I was a young employee during a recession, and finding work was difficult. When I landed my first job I was I was grateful and focused on ways I might make my work contribute to the company's bottom line, by pushing the limits of my job description and tasks to ensure my role impacted revenue and value creation. I appreciated training and feedback, but forced myself to deliver results autonomously through self-teachi…

Any way I can get in touch with you?

Re: Performance Reviews Are a Waste of Time

#308

Post by Shivetya » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 11:40 AM UTC

wait till you work somewhere they add in items you have no influence over like meeting sales goals or such while working in IT. Then on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being best and 2 being under performing they score you a 2 in both categories. then again a subsidiary of ours had a four year stint with a bad cio who set all reviews as a 2 baseline and required managers to justify higher.

When reviews are once or at most twice a year they don't provide guidance a manager should be providing full time. All they are a means for a company to protect themselves from recrimination.

Re: Performance Reviews Are a Waste of Time

#309

Post by analog31 » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 12:28 PM UTC

lquist wrote: post #259

adrianmonk wrote: post #129

Paraphrasing what a manager told me once: "If anything in your performance review is a surprise, then I have failed as a manager." Coaching is not a purpose of a performance review. The coaching and communication should be an ongoing process that happens before the review. Problems should be brought up early enough that you have a chance to change or improve before it gets to the point of being written in a review. I…

An opposing viewpoint from Andy Grove's High Output Management: Let's talk about surprises. If you have discharged supervisory responsibilities adequately throughout the year, holding regular one- on-one meetings and providing guidance when needed, there should never be surprises at a performance, right? Wrong. When you are using the worksheet, sometimes you come up with a message that will startle you. So what do yo…

In my view, giving someone a negative review is only one among many options for dealing with a performance issue. You could always give a neutral review (in terms of the overall rating) and discuss the issue with them verbally, or pledge to resolve the issue in the next year.

If it means you have to let someone have a neutral review that they don't deserve... swallow hard, and start managing after the review is done.

Remember that your employees will be interpreting the review in light of the corporate culture, which they are fully aware of. They will also know whether the problem that you discovered is real or not.

Re: Performance Reviews Are a Waste of Time

#310

Post by lskadf93idk » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 12:40 PM UTC

danek wrote: post #279

lskadf93idk wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have performance reviews not annually, but every few years. My last review, the head of our division got really angry with me and gave me a very negative, punitive review. What I am infuriated about is that never in that few years did I receive any negative feedback, and I tried to do exactly what our subdivision had decided as a group to do, and what the immediate superior had wanted. My last review was glowing,…

That really sucks. But also what's the point of even having reviews it if it's going to be years in between them? There doesn't seem to be any upside, but lots of downside

The whole experience in hindsight made me realize that annual reviews would be a lot better. Although I deeply empathize with the idea that performance reviews in general are kind of misguided, because you should be getting accurate feedback continuously.