Ask HN: Engineering Managers, what do you think about performance reviews?
In software engineering organisations that are larger than 10 people, annual or biannual performance reviews are very common.
Do folks think this is a useful thing to do?
What are the methods people use to do this?
What are the pain points? In practice, perf reviews seem to have become record-keeping tools for organizations to keep plausible deniability when firing people. But in theory, I think performance reviews are underrated. I would love a weekly performance review if I could have one. Fast feedback is an essential component for learning -- biannual reviews come wayyyyy too late. I want to know what my manager thinks I'm doing wrong now haha > Do folks think this is a useful thing to do? I do. It is a ritual, the impact of rituals on productivity is well understood [1], but then there is [2] and we live in a post-factual world and we'll all dissolve into nothingness eventually anyway [3] I think rituals carry value for some type of people (those who think rituals are a good thing) and provide value to some of the people who don't like them (eg. those who would slack off or lose focus without them). I also believe there is a subset of free thinkers who are constrained by rituals. I also think not all rituals should apply equally to everybody. > What are the methods people use to do this? Target definition and evaluation at fixed intervals or when roles change. > What are the pain points? Rituals that exist on paper but have no real impact, excessive exceptions, insufficient leverage and rewards. [1] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-2370.... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_death_of_the_universe