John BaconProject Manager /Agile Product Owner| Not DisclosedFl, United States
I was wondering how many other PMs out there do performance appraisals at the end of a project which are provided to the team member and their functional manager on how project team members performed during the project. Some of the areas I provide appraisal on are:
Quality of work performed on project
Timeliness of project task completion
Timeliness of action item completion
Contribution to meeting project and budget targets
Cooperation with other team members
Communication of progress, status, issues
Communication on technical matters
Contribution to continuous improvement of development, technical,
team processes
Particularly commendable contributions/strengths:
Recommended Areas for Improvement:
I recently joined a new group, and after informing the project team that performance appraisals would be provided to the team member and their manager at the end of the project, someone didn't like that and complained to my boss, so my boss ended up siding with this apparently disgruntled employee who was likely worried they would not get a positive project performance appraisal and my boss said well we don't' do that on this team. So I was basically told that I'm not allowed to include team member performance appraisals supporting the Develop Project Team project management process.
Team Member Performance Appraisals are a form of feedback to improve and do things better the next time. Project team members and functional managers should consider appraisals as a form of superation. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
It has no sense. This type of things has to be part of a continuous improvement then it has to be done during the project not at the end. And always has to be remember: "I am me and my circumstance" were words of the Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset. Saving Changes...
The use of feedback and evaluation is often not embedded in the company culture. I'll bet you anything your company only has annual performance reviews by the functional managers. Provide your performance review directly to the functional managers and let them use what they wish in their annual review.
Oh... and, by the way, did your boss say anything against providing regular, verbal feedback to the team members? Don't wait until the end of the project. to provide them with feedback.
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1 reply by Keith Novak
Jun 15, 2022 7:23 PM
Keith Novak
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Unfortunately, in some company cultures the performance management is more about risk management. Having a standardized ranking system helps defend against claims of unfair treatment.
I think this is where things get touchy about having people other than functional managers have any kind of formal appraisal. That could lead to claims of defamation against someone.
You also see that kind of HR risk management where company policies only allow confirming the prior employment of someone, but provide no other details good or bad.
The use of feedback and evaluation is often not embedded in the company culture. I'll bet you anything your company only has annual performance reviews by the functional managers. Provide your performance review directly to the functional managers and let them use what they wish in their annual review.
Oh... and, by the way, did your boss say anything against providing regular, verbal feedback to the team members? Don't wait until the end of the project. to provide them with feedback.
Unfortunately, in some company cultures the performance management is more about risk management. Having a standardized ranking system helps defend against claims of unfair treatment.
I think this is where things get touchy about having people other than functional managers have any kind of formal appraisal. That could lead to claims of defamation against someone.
You also see that kind of HR risk management where company policies only allow confirming the prior employment of someone, but provide no other details good or bad. Saving Changes...
Alison LightfootIT Project Manager| PerspectaGainesville, Va, United States
I am the Technical PM and the Functional PM of a small project responsible for both the project completion and performance appraisals of team members. I do not know how a functional manager would be able to provide a reasonable appraisal or constructive feedback without input from the project manager. Saving Changes...
I don't have much experience in the purely PM sphere; however, from my time in the Army, we were expected to write something about each of our soldiers after every exercise or sustained period of training; as well as at least quarterly during the year.
These reports were expected to be as objective as possible (as no reporting system is completely free of subjectivity) and to include points to work on as well as good points (usually in a ratio of 1 bad to 2 good).
This was done when we had soldiers under our command (from LCpl (E) on upwards).
Yes, I agree that the current culture frowns on this, but our troops always accepted it...sometimes they didn't like it, but they accepted it, because they knew we were being reported on by our superiors as well.
I wonder if the problem is that the team or individuals you were/are reporting on feel that you're merely jumping up and down and generating paperwork for the sake of it...? Certainly, in my example, we had a Troop Commanders Notebook for each and every person, which followed them for their entire career.
Perhaps that's the answer to this; show them that you are documenting their successes AND their 'not-successes' in order to help them improve themselves, and to lift the entire team's game...? Saving Changes...
Benjamin RamManager of Program Mangers| GoogleCa, United States
John, you suggest an interesting and valuable feedback loop. However, I would also be concerned on this approach becoming a method of 'blaming' people for not doing something. It is possible others will treat it this way and thus drive a downward spiral and destroys what you were trying to achieve.
I feel the same value could be achieved if the stats are looked at on a project and team-wide basis - and % basis which identifies how well the team together contributed to the effort and where the team gap was.
This gives an opportunity for the team to do a retrospective and review how any of these metrics could jointly be improved - building a positive feedback loop of what is expected in the team.
People who are interested in specific feedback can then request it if they want. Also, managers of those people can (and should) ask specific feedback about their team. Also, If there are outliers - people who actively cause problems in a program, I'd strongly suggest addressing this problem directly with them and their manager rather than waiting till end of program. Saving Changes...
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