Technology companies popularised OKRs, peer feedback and calibration, and they change their structures often. An engineer may work in a squad led by a product manager, take technical direction from a staff engineer and report to an engineering manager. This page explains how the sector runs performance management, with examples you can adapt.
Objectives and key results are usually set each quarter at company and team level. Most guidance, and most experienced practitioners, advise against scoring individuals on OKR attainment. When a rating depends on hitting a key result, people set safe targets and the method stops working. OKRs explain what the team was trying to achieve. The review then asks what the individual contributed to it.
Engineering, product and design teams publish levels with expectations for scope, technical skill, collaboration and leadership. Many offer parallel routes for managers and senior individual contributors. A review compares someone’s work with their level, and a promotion case shows sustained performance at the next one. Where ladders are vague, reviews drift towards visibility and confidence, which disadvantages quieter engineers and people working remotely.
Because a manager sees only part of the work, reviews lean on written feedback from peers, product partners and tech leads. Calibration sessions then compare ratings across teams to keep standards consistent. Both can become expensive. Companies that keep the cost down ask for fewer, more specific peer reviews, gather feedback through the year and limit calibration to the cases where managers disagree.
Lines of code, tickets closed and commits are easy to count and easy to game. Delivery measures such as deployment frequency and lead time are designed for teams and systems, and lose meaning when applied to a person. Good reviews describe impact in words: the incident that was handled well, the design that unblocked two teams, the junior engineer who was mentored to independence. After a re-organisation, the record needs to follow the person to their new manager.
A typical pattern. Your own calendar, agreements and policies come first.
Team objectives agreed and graded openly. Used for learning and planning, not individual ratings.
Priorities, blockers, feedback and career. Notes shared between the manager and the engineer.
Ask for peer feedback after a launch, an incident review or the end of a project, while it is specific.
Self-reflection, peer input and a manager assessment against the ladder. Calibration across teams.
Promotion cases judged against the next level. Pay reviewed using market data and performance.
Three illustrative scenarios showing a goal, the evidence that informs it and the conversation that follows. Adapt them to your own roles.
Illustrative voices. New Dynamics wrote these composite perspectives to reflect themes that are common in the sector. They are not customer testimonials, and the names do not refer to real people.
We re-organised three times in eighteen months. People kept starting again with a manager who knew nothing about their last year. The record has to follow the person.
The first time we tied bonuses to OKRs, every target was hit and nothing ambitious was attempted. We separated them the next quarter.
New Dynamics connects goals, feedback, recognition and reviews in one place. Bring a real process to the demo, and confirm each requirement with the team.
Connect company, team and individual goals, and adjust them when priorities move.
Explore the featureBring engineering managers, tech leads and product partners into one review, each with a defined role.
Explore the featureReflect squads, chapters and dotted lines, so the right people are asked for input after a re-organisation.
Explore the featureSee how team priorities, individual goals and key results could come together in the New Dynamics workspace.
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Most OKR guidance recommends keeping them separate from individual ratings and pay. Linking them encourages safe targets. Use OKRs as context for the review, and assess the person’s contribution, judgement and behaviours against the expectations for their level.
Twice a year is common, supported by weekly or fortnightly one-to-ones and quarterly goal setting. Some companies run one full review and one lighter check-in. The right answer balances timely feedback against the time a cycle takes from product work.
Assess impact, technical quality, collaboration and growth against a published career ladder, using examples and peer feedback. Avoid individual output metrics such as lines of code or tickets closed. Team delivery measures are useful context, not individual scores.
Multi-manager relationships and configurable workflows are central to the platform’s design. Bring your team structure, ladder and review cycle to a demo so the fit, and any integration with your HR system, can be confirmed.
Balanced scorecards, conduct evidence and annual certification under SM&CR.
Performance management in bankingAnnual teacher appraisal, the Teachers’ Standards, early career support and support staff.
Performance management in schoolsDevelopment reviews, academic probation and promotion across research, teaching and citizenship.
Performance management in universitiesObjectives, values and fair outcomes in central and local government.
Performance management in the public sectorSafety-critical competence, rotation crews and the skills for the energy transition.
Performance management in the energy sectorShort check-ins, guest feedback and visible career paths for shift-based teams.
Performance management in hospitalityAnnual appraisal, professional revalidation and clinical supervision on a 24-hour rota.
Performance management in healthcareStore KPIs, part-time and seasonal teams, peak trading and routes into management.
Performance management in retailShift teams, skills matrices, safety behaviours and continuous improvement.
Performance management in manufacturingSee what performance management could look like for your organisation.
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