Performance Management and Standards Questions
Managing individual performance: setting expectations and standards, diagnosing and turning around underperformance, running performance reviews, and making tough calls including managing someone out. Covers the mechanics of feedback loops, documentation, and holding a bar for excellence while being fair. Distinct from generic feedback in its focus on accountability and formal performance outcomes.
Explain the SMART goal framework and provide two concrete SMART goals: one for a junior software engineer and one for a senior engineer. For each goal, describe success criteria, measurement methods, checkpoints, and what events would trigger goal reassessment or re-prioritization.
You have a 30-minute one-on-one with an engineer to discuss performance and development. Provide a structured agenda with time allocation (e.g., check-in, progress against goals, blockers, feedback, action items), 5 example questions you would ask, signals you'd listen for (e.g., disengagement, confusion), and how you'd document outcomes and follow-ups.
Your company plans to move from annual reviews to continuous feedback using a platform like Lattice or 15Five. As engineering manager, outline an adoption plan: communication to teams, manager and IC training, pilot selection criteria, integrations with existing tools (Git, Jira), monitoring KPIs for adoption, and how you'd measure impact on performance and retention over a year.
Describe a program to mentor other managers to improve their feedback and rating accuracy across the organization. Include curriculum topics, interactive exercises (role-plays, calibration labs), frequency and duration, methods to measure effectiveness (pre/post assessments, calibration variance), and incentives to encourage manager participation.
How do you provide recognition to individuals and teams while ensuring fairness and avoiding favoritism? Provide two concrete examples: one public recognition program and one private recognition approach, and describe rules or guardrails you'd use to make recognition equitable across your team.
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