From Engineer to Manager: Mastering Talent Reviews Year-Round

In my journey from a software engineer to managing high-performance teams across different companies, the yearly talent review caught my attention big time. It’s a crucial part that hits close to home. I get the stress it brings each year for everyone, managers, and team members alike. It’s a big deal because it affects our careers, pay, promotions, and how we plan our projects.

Credit to Amazon for implementing well-balanced mechanisms that support both employees and managers during this critical time. While not flawless, there are noteworthy positive aspects, such as the training provided to managers and the remarkably well-defined documentation quality regarding expectations. These elements stand out compared to my experiences elsewhere.

Back in my coding days, the crazy rush to fix all the bugs, the “drive to zero,” right before releasing a project is a feeling I don’t want to experience again. Now, as a manager, the stress of the yearly talent review resurfaces memories of those chaotic moments, especially when it’s not planned well throughout the year and left for a last-minute rush.

From the very beginning, I make it crystal clear to my team – talent reviews are a year-long marathon, not a last-minute mad dash. We won’t find ourselves scrambling for talent reviews at the eleventh hour. Why? Well, just like you can’t fix a whole software project in the final hours, trying to sum up a year’s worth of work in a rush is equally inadequate. We’re about celebrating our wins when they’re fresh in our minds and identifying learning opportunities to course correct.

Now, let me be honest – it’s not all roses and simplicity. There are always competing priorities for our time, and engineers, being humble by nature, might not readily brag about or boast about their work. However, based on my experience, it’s an investment worth making. I encourage everyone on the team to document their work – highlighting the problems they tackled, their contributions, the impact they made, and the value they added. Include related artifacts like design documents and code, showcasing how they’ve helped the team level up.

Consider this metric: Imagine trying to gather and analyze project feedback when you’re running against the clock. It’s like trying to fix a bug without knowing where the bug is – chaotic and ineffective. The same principle applies to talent reviews. Leaving everything to the last minute means we miss out on valuable insights and reflections.

So, throughout the year, we maintain an ongoing conversation. I make it a priority to provide constructive, forward-looking feedback with actionable items – no surprises, no cramming, no games. It’s simple: share what needs improvement and build a feasible, actionable plan centered around the engineer’s career growth.

In my experience, I’ve even loaned my engineers to other teams when I didn’t have the right opportunities for their skill growth or career advancement. It might sound counterintuitive, but as a manager, my focus isn’t on building a fiefdom; instead, it’s about creating a culture where engineers are encouraged to cross-pollinate and bring their best. This not only helps in talent retention but is also more cost-effective for the company, as our team doesn’t need to look outside for new hires.

The observed metric is clear: Teams that leave talent review discussions to the last minute often miss essential details. It’s not just a feeling; it’s reflected in the quality of our assessments. The numbers don’t lie – a rushed approach leads to incomplete evaluations, hampering our ability to learn and grow.

As talent review season approaches, the focus isn’t on stress; it’s on looking back at what we’ve accomplished, learning from it, and planning how to make the next year even better. It’s not rocket science; it’s just good practice – a lesson learned from the frenetic days of coding, where rushing meant making mistakes.