Prepare your Performance Review right now!
Prepare your Performance Review right now!
Don’t wait until you receive the email about the upcoming Performance Review process. A thorough self-assessment is what will make the difference in getting a promotion.
The Performance Review is the moment when you and your manager reflect on the progress made since the last one. If you're fortunate, you have a Performance Review more than once a year.
If you are like most people, you will have 1 performance review in Q1 next year, around February.
If you have not started already capturing your goals, achievements, and invisible wins during the year, I’m sorry to say you are late… but not too late!
In today's issue, we will cover:
Why take time for your self-assessment.
What you have to record.
Structure of each record.
When you have to record it.
How to compile your Performance Review.
💡 Why take time for your self-assessment
Help your Engineer Manager.
Maybe your manager knows everything you did; in small companies, this is often the case. But in bigger companies (800+ employees), your manager might not be aware of everything.
In any case, your manager is the one that will have to fight for your promotion. The more and better arguments she/he has, the better for you.
Invest time in making the work of your Engineer Manager easier by keeping a good track of your performance. Let’s see now how to do that.
📋 What you have to record
Everything.
I would have 3 categories:
Successes. The achievements made from the latest Performance Review. For example: That new process you introduced to your Product Manager and now it’s so happy with the benefits it brought.
Learnings. Not everything is a success. Also, your manager wants to know that you are still learning. Positively, record what learnings you got that makes you a better Engineer today. For example: if you had to collaborate with a peer from another team or department who is not part of your organization, or if that person works differently from what you're used to, you had to learn how to work with them.
Invisible wins. My favorite ones, and very important when you are seeking a role promotion. These usually come from the work that you make out of your normal duties. For example: You worked side by side with a Staff Engineer in an automation that will be used by 100% of Feature Teams and will save X hours of work.
Ok, so far, we know what to record, now, let’s see what is the suggested structure for it.
📚 Structure of each record
What. Straight forward. What you want to notice in this record of your performance review. What you did well or learned.
When. It helps to have a temporal reference of the achievement. Also, if possible, add the context at that point in time.
Positive Impact. Here it’s important you use numbers. Use not only absolute numbers but also relative numbers to reflect the positive impact of your achievement. There is no point in saying that you will save 40k/year because you removed some microservices if your manager does not know what percentage of the whole budget you saved; Maybe it’s 80%, which would be great, or a 20%, which is good, but not so great.
⌚️ When you have to record it
Live mode.
I would recommend writing your record in the log right after happens. Do not procrastinate on this. Why? it’s fresh in your mind; you have all the details loaded in your memory, so get profit from that.
It happened to me in the past that I used to write records later in time when the success passed some time ago, and I found myself in the situation of not remembering some important details, ending with a weak record.
Recording on a weekly basis could work as well but, depending on the workload you have, you could also miss important details.
🛠️ How to compile your Performance Review
Adapt to your manager.
Remember what I said in the first chapter:
Help your Engineer Manager.
In case you are now working with a new Engineering Manager and haven't yet gone through a Performance Review together, I recommend asking in advance about the format.
Some Engineer Managers prefer you make bullet points; others prefer you explain in detailed paragraphs. Get feedback about it and adapt your log to the expectations of
✨ Takeaways
Wrapping up! Below are the main takeaways from today’s issue:
Help you manager, it’s for your good.
Keep a log of all your successes, learnings, and invisible wins, which starts right after the latest Performance Review.
Ensure you explain the positive impact of your wins.
Adapt it to the best way your manager could handle it.
In future essays, I will share with you the template I have for recording everything relevant for my next Performance Review. Stay tuned!
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Photo: Daniel Lloyd Blunk-Fernández in Unsplash
