It's That Time of the Year Again

It's annual performance review season again at Microsoft.  My favorite part of the annual review is to look at the changes to the form that were made.  This year, objectives are no longer called objectives.  They're called commitments.  That seems to be just a step up in intensity.  Each year they need to step it up, I think.  Soon it will be “Things I need to get done if I want to continue working here” or “Tasks to do in order to prevent foreclosure on my house”.  Now that's steppin' up the intensity.  But seriously, annual reviews do force us to lift our heads out of work and look down the road for the coming year.  What do you really want to accomplish in your job in the next year?  Not only that but you have to look through the past year and describe how you did on your goals, er, objectives, ... I mean, commitments.  It can be tough to toot your own horn for some people.  And not so tough for others.  I used to struggle at it when I was younger in job interviews.  But it's just one of those things that's necessary in order to be successful in your job.  Use it when it's necessary is the key, I think.  Modesty is still a good thing.

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• Anonymous
  October 26, 2006
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