Run Appraisals Where Nobody Is Surprised by the Rating
A developer, a tester, a designer and a support engineer cannot be measured on the same numbers, and an annual form completed in a rush satisfies none of them. We help you design goals by role, a rhythm of one-to-ones and check-ins, a standard for what good looks like at each level, calibration across teams, and early improvement plans. You decide the ratings; we build a system that gives them evidence.
Not sure what you need? Tell us about your business in six short steps and we will come to the first meeting prepared.
Share your requirementsThe starting point
Does Your Rating Match What the Person Heard During the Year?
Where feedback depends on the manager, some engineers hear nothing until the review and others hear every week. Ratings are argued in a room where each manager knows their own team well and the others' hardly at all.
We help you make the appraisal a summary of the year, not a first conversation.
You may be experiencing:
- Goals written as OKRs in some teams and as task lists in others.
- No agreed view of what separates one level from the next, so ratings drift between managers.
- Feedback that arrives only at the annual review.
- One-to-ones held often by some managers and rarely by others, with nothing recorded.
- Calibration done informally, if at all, and increments only loosely tied to the outcome.
- Peer input collected unevenly and used by some managers and ignored by others.
- Improvement plans started after the problem has been visible for a long time.
What we can help with
Our Performance Management Services for Software Companies
Goal Framework by Role Family
Design goal setting for engineering, QA, DevOps, data, design, product, delivery and support, using OKRs, KRAs or a blend. Each role gets measures it can influence, and not a borrowed delivery number.
Expectations by Level
Describe what meeting expectations looks like at each level, in terms of quality, scope, autonomy and collaboration, so a manager can point to evidence and an engineer can see the gap.
Check-in and One-to-one Rhythm
Set the cadence of one-to-ones, quarterly reviews and project-end feedback, with a short format that records agreed actions without becoming paperwork.
Feedback and Peer Input
Decide where peer or client-side input is used, who gives it, how it is collected and how a manager weighs it, so it informs the review and does not replace judgement.
Rating Scale and Guidelines
Define the rating scale, what each point means and how evidence is cited. We write guidance that managers can apply the same way in different teams.
Calibration Sessions
Design and facilitate calibration across teams, with a standard evidence pack and a record of changes and reasons, so ratings are comparable between managers.
Improvement Plans
Define a plan format, when it begins, what support is offered, how progress is recorded and who is involved, and keep it separate from conduct matters.
Increment and Promotion Recommendations
Link ratings to increment and promotion recommendations through a written route, with reasons recorded, in step with your pay bands and levels.
The deliverables
What You Receive
Depending on the agreed scope, your engagement can include:
- A goal framework with examples for each role family.
- Level expectation statements for the roles you hire most.
- A one-to-one and quarterly check-in format.
- A rating guide with evidence rules.
- A calibration process and evidence pack.
- An improvement plan format and a process note.
- A link from rating to increment and promotion recommendation.
- Set-up of goals, reviews and reminders in your system or on GullyHR.
Step by step
How We Work
Understand the Last Cycle
We read recent goals, reviews and ratings, and speak to managers and engineers about what helped and what felt arbitrary.
Agree the Principles
With your leaders we settle what the system is for, how often it runs and what evidence supports a rating.
Design the Cycle
We draft goals, check-ins, rating guide, calibration and improvement plan formats, and test them with a few teams.
Brief the Managers
We train managers on setting goals, running one-to-ones, writing evidence and having a difficult conversation.
Run and Review
We help you run the first cycle, using a baseline recorded at the start, and then adjust the design with you.
The difference
Make Ratings Something People Recognise
A working performance system helps your company:
We do not promise outcomes. We record a baseline before work starts, covering the share of one-to-ones held, how far ratings differ between teams and how many improvement plans begin late, and report against it, so you can see what changed and what did not.
- Give each role goals it can influence.
- Hold feedback conversations through the year.
- Apply ratings on the same basis across teams.
- Link increments and promotions to recorded evidence.
- Spot struggling employees early enough to help.
- Reduce disagreement at review time.
Find your fit
Who This Service Is For
Growing Product Teams
Move from an annual form to a rhythm managers can sustain.
IT Services and Consulting Firms
Combine project feedback from several leads into one fair review.
Companies with First-time Managers
Give new managers a clear route for goals, feedback and ratings.
Support and Operations Teams
Use measures that suit shift and queue-based work.
Firms Preparing for Calibration
Bring comparable evidence to a conversation that is currently informal.
How it usually shows up in information technology and software
Performance management in software companies is often an annual form completed in a rush, with ratings argued in a room where managers know their own teams well and others' teams not at all. Goals are set as OKRs in some teams and as task lists in others. Output is hard to compare across roles: a developer, a tester, a designer and a support engineer cannot be measured on the same numbers. Feedback during the year depends on the manager, so some people hear nothing until the review and others hear every week. Peer input, where used, is collected inconsistently. Calibration happens informally, if at all, and increment and promotion recommendations are tied to it only loosely. The common result is a rating that employees do not recognise and cannot act on.
Common challenges
Where it goes wrong in information technology and software
Appraisals contain surprises
Nothing was said during the year, so the rating arrives as news.
Goals differ by team
Some use OKRs, some use task lists and some use nothing in writing.
Calibration is informal
Managers rate to their own standard, and a strong rating in one team means little in another.
Improvement plans arrive late
Concerns are raised only when an exit or a dispute is near.
A better process
What a working version looks like
- 01
Set goals by role
Short written goals per role family, using OKRs or key result areas, agreed within the first weeks of each cycle. The performance process sets the format.
- 02
Hold regular check-ins
Quarterly conversations and short one-to-ones, with a note kept of what was agreed.
- 03
Define what good looks like
Link ratings to the level descriptions on the career ladder, so that a rating means the same across teams.
- 04
Calibrate across teams
Managers meet before ratings are final, compare evidence and align. Performance tracking can hold the record.
- 05
Use improvement plans early
A written plan with a review date for anyone below standard, kept separate from relations matters.
What to check this week
- Ask three engineers what their goals are for this quarter.
- Check whether one-to-ones are recorded for the last month.
- Compare ratings in two teams and the evidence behind each.
- Read the last improvement plan and see when the problem was first raised.
- Find out how increment recommendations were linked to ratings.
Confirm with a qualified professional. What applies depends on your establishment, your state and your sector, and it changes. This page describes a practice; it does not state a legal position.
What this looks like in information technology and software
The parts of performance management that are specific to this sector, rather than general.
Performance and Appraisal
Feedback through the year, so the appraisal contains no surprises.
What this coversHide
Performance and Appraisal
Feedback through the year, so the appraisal contains no surprises.
What this coversHide- Goal setting
- OKRs or KRAs
- Quarterly check-ins
- Continuous feedback
- Manager one-to-ones
- Peer input where used
- Calibration across teams
- Ratings
- Performance improvement plans
- Promotion and increment recommendations
Questions on this, in information technology and software
Either can work. The question is whether each person can influence what they are measured on. Many companies use OKRs for team goals and a short set of role-specific measures for individuals. We help you choose and keep it light.
By defining expectations per role family and level, and using evidence such as quality, delivery against commitments, collaboration and growth in scope. We avoid one number for all roles, since it favours whichever is easiest to count.
That is your decision, but a regular rhythm matters more than the exact interval. We help you set a cadence managers will keep, with a short record of actions, and show you which managers are holding them.
Managers present ratings and evidence to a small group, who compare them across teams and note changes with reasons. We design the session, the evidence pack and the record, and can facilitate the first round.
Concerns are noted early, discussed with the person, supported by a plan and reviewed against dates. Decisions that follow rest on the record. Employment consequences depend on your terms, so confirm them with a qualified professional.
Often yes. We design the cycle first, then set up goals, check-ins, reviews and reminders in your tool or on the GullyHR platform, with reports showing which reviews are complete and which are overdue.
Write key results per role family, such as tested releases for QA or response quality for support. Each person should be able to say what success looks like.
A formal review once or twice a year, with quarterly check-ins and regular one-to-ones. Frequent feedback is what makes the formal review uneventful.
It aligns standards between managers by comparing evidence across teams. Without it, a rating depends on which manager happened to give it.
As soon as a concern has been discussed and has not changed. Waiting until the annual review makes the plan look like a verdict.
Build an Appraisal System That Engineers and Managers Both Trust
If appraisal season brings surprise and argument, start with the year around it. We can help you design the routine.
Prefer to talk first? Call +91 80958 58589 or write to hello@gullyhr.com.
Book a Performance Consultation
Tell us how you set goals and review people today.
The general method — what performance management covers, the questions it answers and what an engagement produces — is the same whatever the sector, and is set out on the performance management process page. What is above is the part that differs for information technology and software.
To run this in a system rather than on paper, see performance management software.
Other HR topics for information technology and software
Where to start
Most engagements begin with a review of how this runs in your business today, then a written process and the sequence to implement it.
See all HR topics for information technology and software, or another industry.