Evaluating developers

Question

I am a technical team leader of a small programming team, working on a project for an external client.

I was recently asked to produce written evaluations of my team members. I feel uncomfortable doing this, because I don't see myself as a management person and never thought of my colleagues much deeper than "A is reliable and B is a lazy bum".

But I am expected to produce more elaborate stuff to be read by actual managers, and my manager hinted that the purpose of this is rather to test my evaluation skills.

Any hints or resources on how to produce a quality evaluation? Are there standardized forms? How should I address this?

Thank you.

Answer 1

You could conduct a 360 degree feedback with your team (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/360-degree_feedback), motivating each team member to give feedback to his colleagues (and you).

Answer 2

I have found that Joel's Professional Development Ladder and this construx site provided great advice on how to start. It helps to understand the various knowledge areas and what developers are expected to know and do. You can then evaluate developers on how competent they are in various knowledge areas and assign them a level accordingly.

You of course have to evaluate their work ethic and attitude etc which have nothing to do with development as such.

Answer 3

Tough question! I would suggest you first look back at evaluations that have been performed by your manager on YOU. This is usually a good example of what you are expected to produce for your team mates. If you have not had any formal evaluation yet, I suggest you look to your HR department, or management for a copy of a standard template for such purposes. Most large companies have them.

Evaluating team members can be tricky, especially as a team leader and not a 'front line' manager. Remember the following,

• Be honest, with them and yourself
• Evaluate based on performance not gut feeling, or emotion
• Never ever evaluate someone better simply because you 'like' them or have empathy for their situation. It always comes back to you in the end.

Edit: Some further things I thought of, been awhile since I did evals as a team lead..

• When evaluating performance, look at not only what the person needs to improve, but also what they have done well. Try to present both sides of the story (even if you feel the person is a lazy bum)
• Look at quantifiable results.. what has the person PRODUCED and how useful was it to the team as a whole. Remember, even if they pump out thousands of lines of code, that doesn't mean it was all useful, maintainable or even worth the time.

Good luck!

Answer 4

First thing, don't be intimidated by the task. Second, you are a team lead, so your opinion of the people counts; it may be a test, but you should be up to it. Third, if you were doing this informally over a coffee and your boss asked you about someone you would probably have no trouble chatting for a few minutes about your observations of them and what you thought were their strengths and weaknesses. That's what you should write down in your review notes.

Ask your boss if there is a standard format - if you are in a large organisation HR might have forms and/or systems in place for these sorts of reviews. Otherwise, just give him a paragraph or two in plain English (or your language of choice) on what you think.

You can add colour to your reports by citing work they have done and where they have succeeded or failed.

Some golden rules...

• don't get personal
• try and be objective and fair
• don't hide the truth, however uncomfortable

Good luck, it's all part of stepping up to be a manager and is fun in a way - your opinion is counting.