I had my own performance review every year, but it is the first time I give performance review to my team. Just like giving interview, sitting on the other side of the table is a total difference experience. I am still a supervisor in training, so my boss is with me when I am giving the performance reviews. It makes me more nervous than my team member. Performance review is a formal communication between the team and supervisor. The performance rating, any bonus or salary raise should not be the focus. The focus of the performance review is how to make your team perform better in the coming year. I think at the end, it is all about managing expectation. Your team will be motivated if they have the right expectation and their expectation is within their reach.

Over time I will develop my performance review style, just I have developed my interview style. For now, my performance review follows the template I read from some coaching manual I found online. First I start the review with some chit-chat, try to loose up the atmosphere. Ask open end questions how the team member feel about their work in the past evaluation period. Then I will bring out the performance report and go over it together. I will highlight their strength, encourage them to further develop strength. I will highlight their problems and come up with objectives to address the problems. One key question I ask is how we (or the upper management) can help them do their job better. I expect some whining with some useful feedback. Then we set the job objectives for the next evaluation period. Ask them what they would like to work on and try to align their interest with the task on hand. It is important to give them a sense of control over their job. Ask them what area they would like to develop since growth opportunity is also a important motivating factor. I will save the letter for last. Giving them the number too early would only distract the communication.

It is easy to give performance reviewer to an average or above team member. They meet their objectives, I can give them a pad on the back (metaphorically) for the good work they have done and they are pretty much on cruise-mode in self-development. Everyone have some weakness, so they don’t bad at all to be told that they have something to work on. On the other hand, the performance reviewer of below average team member is quite trick. I have to handle it with great care. I need to communicate the facts across and at the same time without hurting his feeling or demoralizing him. I try to phase it positively when giving him challenges to work on, but I suspect his is not too happy about the feedback.

Now, I understand why the management always reluctant to give out the ranking or letter grade rating. The average plus workers has no problem accepting their rating. It is the below average workers that is trick. I feel bad telling him in face that he is below average and probably he also feel bad being told that he is below average as well. Without the letter grade written in black and white, at least I can smooth the feedback and make it sounds less harsh. I guess I will feel differently if I don’t have to care about his motivation. If he is a contractor and I can reject him on any future contract. Maybe I will get some pleasure from making him feel bad by crushing his self image with the below average review. Nay, what the heck, if I am not going to work with him in the future, why should I waste my time and energy giving feedback to him?

Last year, I was invite to give a talk to grade six student on career day about my work. A student asked me what is the working hours like. I told him engineers work flexible hours. They don’t understand what’s flexible hours, so the teacher explained to them that I can come to work any time I like, go home any time I like and take breaks as much as I want. The idea of flexible hours seems novel to the students and they all say that’s cool. Then the teacher use the chance to teach them the importance of time management. Maybe I should tell the students, flexible hours is not cool in reality.

Flexible hours does not mean shorter hours, in fact it is often longer hours. Engineers’ work is project based, as long as we meet the dead line and show up in the meeting, to some extend we have the freedom of when and where to work. In other nine to five jobs, they have day in day out tasks. If you take a day off or have a sick day, someone have already covered your work for you. But in our job, if you take a day off, your tasks are still sitting there waiting for you come back and finish them. I end up working extra hours before my vacation so I can get all my the tasks out of my way. The only time I enjoy flexible hours is down time between projects. I can take the benefit of flexible hours by having a shorter work day if I don’t have much to do.

A colleague just resign today and decide to go to medical school. I only got half of the fact when I heard the news, , I thought he is already accepted by medical school so I went to congratulate him. It turns out he is making a very bold move. He has to study full time for a year to make up some undergrad biology credits before he can even apply for medical schools. He is smart and young, I think he could make the jump from being an engineer to a doctor. However, forgo one year of salary to prepare for application, then spent 5 years studying and many more years further education on specialty practices is a huge investment. I wish him good luck, but I also asked him, touch wood, what if he couldn’t get into a medical school. He said the plan B is come back to PMC and continue to work as an engineer.

Nowadays, no one has life time employment. Switching job is very common, but usually people switch within related industries. Switching career is a lot harder. You have to give up the experience you have accumulate all those years and start from scratch. Unless you really hate your first career or you have great passion for your new career, it is always a though decision to change career. I have friends who tried to move away from engineering but with bad luck end up staying go back to the same place where they starts.

One day, when I am bored being an engineer, I want to back to school to get a philosophy Ph.D. and then be a philosophy professor in university or community college for living. The only problem between me and my dream career is that I can’t afford to let go my salary for a few years to study something that is absolutely useless and does not yield handsome return in the future. Maybe I should be more realistic, study a MBA instead.

After the layoff last year, the size of my company has shrink quite a bit. The current office space seems to be too spacious with empty cubicles here and there. The management decide to lower the rental cost by terminating the lease of the 4th floor. As a result, we have a company wide seat reshuffle. The current location of my department is at the best spot in the building, a bright corner on the 3rd floor. It is obvious the prime location will transform into the corner office for the CEO. We were put one floor below. The cubicle move was over the weekend and I am just settling in my new cubicle.

I can’t complain about my new cubicle, it is right by the window. At first, I was a bit worry about the glare off my monitors; I may have to close the bind all the time. Luckily my windows is facing East, so I get ambient light instead of directly sun light most of the day. I can leave the bind open all the time and have natural lights shines on my cubicle. I don’t have to turn on my desk lamp and yet it is still bright enough for normal tasks. I found natural light is more comfortable for my eyes and I feel like staying in my cubicle more. I think having a window seat may even boost my productivity because I feel better at work!