The Power of Performance Reviews: Use This System to Become a Better Manager 🤝

Lenny Rachitsky argues that performance reviews are a secret weapon of strong managers: done well, they improve performance, align expectations, and accelerate a report's career; done poorly, they drive people out. He presents a three-part system (Prepare, Deliver, Follow-up) and focuses on the preparation stage, where most of the effort belongs. The preparation involves gathering peer feedback through three simple questions and a self-review from the report, then forming the manager's own view to reduce bias. He then explains how to build the review template, covering accomplishments, superpowers, a short narrative, and one or two concrete development areas. The piece matters because it turns a dreaded ritual into a structured, fair, and growth-oriented practice.

01Key takeaways

• Start gathering peer and self feedback at least a month before the review, since responses take time.
• Use three simple questions for peers: what to start, continue, and stop doing, and why.
• Form your own view of performance before reading peer feedback to reduce bias.
• Document accomplishments as significant, measurable outcomes rather than routine activities.
• Highlight superpowers as well as weaknesses, since leveraging strengths often has greater impact.
• Limit development areas to one or two, and make them concrete enough that the report knows exactly what to do.

02Key sections

Three-step system overview

The review rests on three equally important parts: prepare, deliver, and follow up. A shared template anchors the whole process.

Gathering peer and self input

Start at least a month early by collecting feedback from five to eight peers using three questions about start, continue, and stop behaviors. Ask the report for a self-review covering accomplishments, focus areas, and career goals.

Forming your own assessment

Before feedback arrives, write down your own view of strengths, blockers, and critical development areas. This helps avoid being swayed entirely by peer opinions.

Accomplishments and superpowers

List significant, specific accomplishments rather than activities, plus a few anonymized peer quotes. Highlight a superpower to flex, and watch for gendered language bias when describing strengths and weaknesses.

Development areas

Pick one or two development areas that most hold the person back from the next level, grounded in leveling criteria, feedback themes, and calibration input. Keep them concrete and avoid listing too many.

03From the post

“Ever since my first piece of writing after leaving Airbnb, I’ve been wanting to do a deep dive into performance reviews. IMHO, they are the secret weapon of the best managers. Done well, they improve performance, align expectations and accelerate your report's career. Done poorly, they accelerate their departure. I’ve been fortunate to have amazing managers, like Vlad, who showed me how powerful performance reviews can be, and so when the First Round Review reached out about doing a guest post, this felt like the perfect opportunity to share these learnings. Below is an excerpt from the full article — enjoy! FOLLOW THIS THREE-STEP PERFORMANCE REVIEW SYSTEM The system I’ve come to rely on is made up of three equally important parts: - 1. Prepare - 2. Deliver - 3. Follow-up This template forms the foundation of the system, and we’ll walk through each section in detail below. Here’s the Google Doc version of the template for your own easy use. [](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s!bJVo!,fauto,qauto:good,flprogressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff4bcf3d5-b8b0-4913-8c01-0b0012a9076e640x1027.jpeg) STEP 1: PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE This is where the bulk of your time should be spent, as it…”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.