Performance Evaluation

I'm not good at evaluating myself.  Especially when it comes to the things I have accomplished and done well.

It's one of the reasons I like having this blog.  Here, I am able to point to objective evidence of accomplishment and I am able to parse these accomplishments into small pieces.  But my personal focus has always been to be better today than I was yesterday... the result though, is often a feeling of inferiority.

This spills into my day job too.  As a Program Manager, I am always looking at what is yet to be done.  I have never felt that a Program or Project Manager was the "star of the show."  The star is the technology or project itself.

My job is to enable it to happen.

My job is to ensure the different players on the project have the information, tools, and parts they need when they need them.... Essentially, I'm the conductor of the orchestra.  I'm keeping tempo and queueing certain sections...  But I'm not the one making the music and I am definitely not the virtuoso soloist.

My job is to ensure the process runs smoothly with as few disruptions as possible and to ensure the players get their recognition.

I bring this up because it's performance evaluation time at my Day Job.

I didn't have much brain space to think about it this last week, so my self-review was... brief.

Fortunately my current lead thinks highly of me.  So he sent a note listing things he thought I should have included and stated that I had a couple of days remaining to make adjustments to my self-review.

So I spent some time on Sunday thinking about the list he sent me, which brought to light several other things I should take credit for.... even though there is still much to do.