Performance Reviews Are a Waste of Time
Paraphrasing what a manager told me once: &quot;If anything in your performance review is a surprise, then I have failed as a manager.&quot;<p>Coaching is not a purpose of a performance review. The coaching and communication should be an ongoing process that happens before the review. Problems should be brought up early enough that you have a chance to change or improve before it gets to the point of being written in a review. If this doesn&#x27;t happen, it&#x27;s a sign that the manager is either terrible at communication, not even trying to coach and improve their employees, or even sabotaging you on purpose.<p>Instead, the purpose of performance reviews is documentation. It can be for good or for bad, depending on the person&#x27;s performance. It makes info available to others and preserves it in case you transfer departments, your manager leaves, etc. Like any other documentation, it creates overhead, but you have to weigh that against the value it provides, and IMHO that&#x27;s what should determine whether you do it (and how often).