Career · 10 recordsPrepare for a performance review

Most people write their self-assessment from memory in an evening, which under-reports the first nine months of the year. This collects the evidence as it happens and treats the review as a conversation you have questions for, not only answers.

Install this templateSee the others

Free on any plan. You will see this list again in the app, and nothing is created until you press install.

✦ Everything it creates

The whole plan, before you install it

Goal

Walk in with evidence and questions Month 6

Collected all year, not remembered the night before.

Keep the record Month 6

Two minutes a week removes the whole problem.

  • Start a running log of outcomes with numbers in themDo firstDay 5
  • Add the things other people thanked me forMonth 2
  • Review the whole log before writing anythingDo firstMonth 6

Write and ask Month 6

A conversation you have questions for, not only answers.

  • Draft the self-assessment from the logDo firstMonth 6
  • Write down what I want to ask forDo firstMonth 6

Routines

  • Add one line to the logweekly
✦ It comes with a note

Recall is biased to last month

A review written from memory in an evening under-reports the first nine months of the year, which is unfair in both directions and is the most common complaint about the whole exercise.\n\nGo in with questions: what would need to be true for the next level, and one thing to work on. That is what turns an assessment into something useful.

Questions

Prepare for a performance review, answered.

Specific outcomes with numbers and names, weighted across the whole period rather than the last month. Recall is heavily biased toward recent work, which is why the log in this plan runs all year.
What would need to be true for the next level, and one thing to work on. Going in with questions rather than only answers is what turns a review from an assessment into something useful.
At the start of the period. The weekly note in this plan takes two minutes and removes the entire problem of reconstructing a year the night before the form is due.
✦ More templates

Other systems you can install

Install it and start this evening

It takes one press. Everything it creates is tagged, so if it turns out not to suit you, it is easy to find and remove together.

Install this template