The 3 Step Process for Engineers to Prevent Stress When Writing Self Evaluations for Perf
One of the most difficult parts of writing a self evaluation is just trying to remember all of the things you accomplished in the last year.
Often it can be difficult to recall exactly when a particular project wrapped up or feature launched. You may be able to confidently say you worked on a few specific items, but not know for sure if it was last year or the year before. There’s also a really good chance that you’re forgetting some pretty important contributions. It’s understandable. A lot can happen in a year.
In the past, I would try to solve for this by scrubbing through my calendar, email, and any meeting notes I’ve taken. This can help jog your memory.
“Oh, I remember.. I was meeting with Mark in February because our teams were working on build optimization… And then in July we kicked off a new cluster initiative with Sarah, which took until Q4 to complete.”
This is great, but what if there was a simpler way?
Enter the YayMe file.
A YayMe file is, as the name suggests, a place for you to write down all of the stuff that makes you say “Yay, I accomplished this.” These can be big or small things. They can be technical, organizational, or other. It’s up to you. But in essence, it’s just a place to catalog your accomplishments and refer back to them later.
In particular, “later” means when you’re trying to write your self evaluation during perf, and especially if you’re putting together a packet for promotion.
1 - Create a “YayMe” File
First, it doesn’t have to be called YayMe. That’s a name I picked up reading LifeHacker back in the early 2000s while I was a technology intern and it stuck with me.
You can call the file whatever you want:
Accomplishments.
WorkTracker.
Wins.
But I’m sticking with YayMe.
Second, it doesn’t matter what kind of file it is. It doesn’t have to be fancy or sophisticated. Sure, you can make a big convoluted Notion workflow with database tables and automations if you like. Or you can use a plaintext file or Google Doc.
I usually go with a spreadsheet because it’s relatively simple and flexible but offers some power for sorting, filtering, etc. when you’re sifting back through what you’ve achieved.
As I said, you can make this as simple or complicated as you like. A good place to start is with 4 pieces of information:
- Date
- Accomplishment
- Description/Notes
- Impact (High / Medium / Low)
You can add to this as you see fit, but this is the gist of it. A simple table for capturing wins as they occur. You can add other fields as needed, say if you want to note a particular domain/area of focus for each task like team building, performance, efficiency, etc.
It’s your YayMe file. Make it work for you.
2 - Use Your YayMe File. Consistently.
Great, you’ve made an organizational system!
Now you just need to reliably put things into it, so that you know where to find them when you need them. Otherwise, it isn’t useful. If you’ve read any of my past writing, you can guess what I’m about to say:
PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDAR.
Every week, maybe around lunch time on Friday, create a 5 minute meeting with yourself to update your YayMe file. Treat this as a serious (but easy!) obligation that you must do. It’s like feeding your pets, except for your career, and you only have to do it once per week.
Why around lunch time? That way if you dip out of work early for some reason, you won’t find that you keep missing your 5 PM appointment with yourself.
If you know you’re going to land a big piece of code later on Friday, may I suggest:
Don’t
Just give yourself credit in YayMe early if you must (you monster)
3 - Refer Back. Review. Reap the Benefits.
This is the easy part.
Refer back to your YayMe file.
You took 2-3 minutes once a week to jot down your big wins, so now you can breeze through writing your performance review. All of your big (and some small) accomplishments should be captured there. You may even be able to copy and paste directly from the file for some parts of writing your review, depending on the structure you choose and level of detail required.
Either way, this will save you a ton of time, significantly reduce the stress you feel trying to remember exactly what you did with all your time this year, and help you write better, more comprehensive self evaluations.
If, like me, you’re approaching the end of a perf cycle, and you found it somewhat painful and onerous to go back and figure out what you actually did in 2023, don’t make the same mistake again!
Let 2024 be the year you embrace the YayMe file and have a stress-free perf cycle 12 months from now.