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Performance Review Preparation

A review cycle you walk into prepared: the process mapped, evidence gathered, a self-assessment that leads with results, no surprises on rating, and goals for next year you actually agreed.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Performance Review Preparation, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

201

Starter tasks

🧭 Career Growth

Performance Review Preparation

Preparing for performance reviews with self-assessments, evidence of results and goals for the next cycle.

  1. Review cycle dates and process map
  2. Decoding the review form and rating scale
  3. Last cycle's review and goals reread
  4. Evidence sweep for this review period
  5. Expectations conversation with your manager
  6. Goal status audit for the current cycle
  7. Feedback received this year in one place
  8. Protected hours for writing the self-review
  9. Choosing who to ask for peer feedback
  10. Monthly goal progress note
  11. Review-readiness item on your one-to-one agenda
  12. Quarterly mini self-review
  13. Monthly metrics snapshot for your goals
  14. One feedback request a month
  15. Mid-year check-in routine
  16. Annual review season run-up
  17. Writing peer reviews for colleagues
  18. Goal change log through the year
  19. Writing a self-assessment that leads with impact
  20. Quantifying results without perfect data
  21. Writing to your competency framework
  22. Naming development areas honestly
  23. Taking critical feedback in the review meeting
  24. How calibration works at your organisation
  25. Explaining technical work to non-technical calibrators
  26. Self-assessment draft, edit and submission
  27. No-surprises rating conversation
  28. Next-cycle goals you can be measured on
  29. Development plan for the next cycle
  30. Responding in writing to a rating you dispute
  31. Deciding what a disappointing review means for you
  32. Resetting goals after a mid-cycle reorg
  33. Annual review meeting preparation
  34. Post-review follow-up summary
  35. Debriefing a 360 feedback report
  36. Probation review at the end of a new job
  37. Pre-calibration summary for your manager
  38. Review after parental or long leave
  39. Review with a manager who joined mid-cycle
  40. Review after moving teams mid-cycle
  41. Making remote work visible at review time
  42. Showing the value of work that prevents problems
  43. Responding to a performance improvement plan
  44. Reviewed during a hard year
  45. Review history across several cycles
  46. Self-review for cross-team technical leadership
  47. Tech lead input on the people you lead
  48. Scoring objectives and key results honestly
  49. Helping a colleague prepare their self-assessment
  50. Review preparation for managers being reviewed

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

Review cycle dates and process map

Most review surprises come from not knowing the process: the self-assessment closes earlier than expected, peer nominations shut a week before that, and calibration happens before your manager has read anything. A one-page map of this year's cycle, with every date and who decides what, lets you plan backwards instead of reacting to reminder emails.

First tasks

  • Find the review timeline on the HR intranet or in last year's emails
  • Ask your manager which stages they control and which happen above them
  • Log into the review tool and check what fields the self-assessment has
  • Put every review date in your calendar with a one-week reminder

Decoding the review form and rating scale

Rating scales hide rules: a five-point scale where most people land on three, a rating labelled 'meets' that quietly blocks a bonus, or competencies weighted equally with results: each changes how you should write. Reading the form and the rating definitions closely before drafting means your self-assessment answers the questions calibrators actually use.

First tasks

  • Copy every question from the review form into a working note
  • Write what each rating level means in one sentence of your own
  • Ask HR or your manager whether there is a target distribution of ratings
  • Note any word limits so you draft to length from the start

Last cycle's review and goals reread

Reviewers often open last year's review first, so the goals you agreed then and the development points you were given are the yardstick for this one. Rereading them now shows which goals are done, which were overtaken by events and which feedback you can show you acted on.

First tasks

  • Download last year's final review from the review tool
  • Mark each old goal as done, partly done, dropped or changed
  • List the development feedback you received and what you did about each
  • Find the email or meeting note where any dropped goal was agreed

Make it yours.

Install Performance Review Preparation, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.