Everyone deserves performance reviews (“perf”). Your work performance impacts your compensation, promotions, and development opportunities. However, the unfortunate reality is that in many companies, especially startups, performance reviews are useless or superficial at best.
Of course, regular performance reviews should be only one part of your organization’s overall performance feedback system. Ideally, you’d receive continuous feedback from managers, peers, reports, and others. You should have meaningful weekly 1:1s. All of this should be tied to overall business results.
The basic performance pyramid
You may have a manager who can’t provide the comprehensive feedback you need to thrive. They may be juggling too much other work or lack the experience or support to provide you with quality perf. This is why you need to take ownership and consider a personal review process. Whether your goal is a more constructive conversation with your manager, faster advancement, or just personal growth, the goal is self-empowerment.
How the process works
“Minimum Viable Perf” is a structured approach designed for you to complete independently. Here’s the template (it’ll prompt you to make a copy) and here are the five steps:
Screenshot of the Minimum Viable Perf template
Review the template:
Begin by carefully examining the provided template. The “Attributes” represent the various dimensions of your job that you need to get right to do well. Each attribute has a “heuristic” describing how to tell if you’re doing well. Attributes are organized into “Areas” for convenience.
Ensure the template accurately reflects your role and responsibilities. If certain attributes aren't relevant, just remove them. Conversely, if crucial aspects of your role are missing from the template, add them to ensure a comprehensive self-assessment.
For instance, you might be a product manager who also handles product marketing. In that case, you should add a new section, along with the appropriate attributes and their heuristics.
Refine the heuristics:
Scrutinize the "Heuristic" column for each attribute. These heuristics describe how to tell if you're performing well in that specific area.
It's essential that these heuristics resonate with you and accurately reflect what constitutes success in your role. If a heuristic seems unclear or doesn't align with your understanding, change it!
Well-defined heuristics are crucial. At least your first time, expect to spend a couple of hours editing them.
Self-score and evidence:
Now, assign yourself a score for each attribute using the scoring guidelines provided. My scoring is a little different from what you’re used to. Instead of the usual “meets/exceeds” 5-point scale, I have four scores: Does not consistently meet expectations; Meets expectations with support; Meets expectations independently; Consistently exceeds expectations.
I’ve found these scores more helpful in describing actual gradations in performance.
The most critical part of this step is providing concrete evidence to support your score. Remember: this is supposed to be helpful to you so you can improve.
For example, if an attribute is "Specification" with the heuristic "The product released is what was intended," your evidence could include links to well-received PRDs or positive feedback on design documents.
Outline edges for improvement:
I like the phrase “Edges for improvement” because it’s a reminder that our abilities are constantly expanding. As your skills grow, you’ll always have a fresh edge.
For each attribute, identify one or two (no more!) specific actions you can take to enhance your performance in that area.
These actions should be concrete and actionable, not vague aspirations.For example, "Attend a presentation skills workshop next quarter" is better than "Improve communication skills." You want to turn your self-review into a tangible plan.
Seek external feedback:
Finally, request feedback from someone familiar with your work within your organization. This could be your manager, a peer, or another colleague.
Share the completed self-review with them and ask them to fill out the "Manager score" and "Manager or peer feedback" columns.
External feedback adds another layer of objectivity to your self-assessment and can highlight blind spots or areas for further development.
The pitfalls of the personal review
Self-review is not without its own challenges. It’s hard to objectively assess your own performance. It's easy to fall into patterns of being overly critical or overly lenient with yourself.
That’s why you anchor your self-assessment in concrete evidence instead of just describing your perception. You want a factual record to mitigate recency, similarity, tightrope, or other biases. Additionally, you’ll seek feedback from trusted colleagues for an external perspective. Remember, the goal of a personal review is not just to critique but to gain a well-rounded understanding of your performance.
Seeking external feedback
So, who should you ask, and how, to increase the likelihood of useful feedback?
Your first instinct, to ask your boss, is probably correct. However, many people in startup environments don’t have a manager who understands their job. Similarly, you may be worried your boss is too busy and distracted to take this process seriously. It might then make sense to reach out to trusted colleagues who have worked closely with you and understand your role and responsibilities well.
When approaching them, be upfront about your goal of seeking feedback to improve your performance. You can say, "I'm conducting my own personal performance review and would value your perspective." Frame your questions to encourage specific examples and suggestions for improvement. You could even share this document! But remember that their perspective and responses will be colored by their own biases. Ultimately, it’s your job to interpret their feedback.
Need help?
As I continue to revise the template, process, and instructions I’m happy to provide complimentary 1:1 coaching. If you’d like to schedule time, you can do so here: https://zcal.co/jhm/perf.
