As an Engineering Manager, your core function is to empower your team to do their best work. This is a lot like a database administrator ensuring a database is running smoothly. Just as a database stores and retrieves information, you as an EM need to store, process, and retrieve information about your team’s performance. The key to giving effective feedback is ensuring your “people database” is highly performant and well-optimized.

Why Your “People Database” Needs Optimization 🧠

Think about what makes a database performant. It’s not just about storing data; it’s about doing so in a way that allows for fast and efficient retrieval. In the world of an Engineering Manager, your “data” is the myriad of daily observations, achievements, challenges, and conversations you have with your team members. Without an effective system for managing this information, you’re left scrambling when it’s time for a performance review. This leads to generic, surface-level feedback that doesn’t help anyone grow.

Example: A well-optimized “people database” helps you move beyond vague feedback like “You did a good job this quarter” to specific, actionable insights such as “You demonstrated excellent leadership by mentoring the new junior engineer on the XYZ project, which reduced their onboarding time by 30%.”

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3 Principles for Managing Your “People Database”

1. Data Collection: Don’t Rely on Memory Alone ✍️

Just as a database needs a consistent stream of data input, you need to actively record information about your team’s performance. Your brain isn’t a reliable long-term storage solution for every detail. Waiting until a review cycle to recall a quarter’s worth of work is a recipe for disaster.

Actionable tip: Maintain a “brag document” or “performance log” for each team member. This isn’t just for their wins; it’s for any notable event.

• Use a simple tool: A Google Doc, a Notion page, or even a dedicated Slack channel can work.
• Log regularly: Aim for a weekly or bi-weekly check-in with your notes.
• Include specific details: Note the date, the project, the specific action, and the impact. For example, instead of “Helped a teammate,” write “On 2/15, Jane helped Bob debug the login bug, preventing a critical outage.”

2. Data Retrieval: Organize for Accessibility 🗂️

A database is useless if the data is unorganized. You need to structure your notes so you can quickly find what you need. This is crucial for performance review time when you’re under pressure to synthesize a lot of information.

Actionable tip: Categorize your notes by impact area or the grading rubric you use in your organization. A few good categories could be:

• Technical Skills: Clean code, debugging, system design.
• Collaboration: Teamwork, communication, conflict resolution.
• Leadership/Growth: Mentoring, taking initiative, self-improvement.
• Impact on the Business: Project completion, efficiency gains, cost savings.

This structure allows you to quickly pull examples for each section of a performance review, ensuring your feedback is holistic and well-supported.

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3. Data Integrity: Validate and Synthesize Your Information 📊

Performance reviews aren’t just about listing facts; they’re about telling a cohesive story of an individual’s growth and contributions. This requires synthesizing the data you’ve collected and validating it with the larger context of team and company goals.

Actionable tip: Before writing the review, spend time with your notes.

• Look for patterns: Do you see a pattern of excellent collaboration? Or perhaps a recurring challenge in a specific area?
• Connect to goals: Link the examples you’ve collected directly back to the goals that were set at the beginning of the quarter. Did their actions help the team meet a key metric?
• Ask for peer feedback: Supplement your own data by collecting input from other team members who have worked closely with the person. This enriches your “dataset” and provides a more complete picture.

By treating your “people database” like a high-performance database, you can transform the often-dreaded task of writing performance reviews into an opportunity for genuine, impactful feedback. This not only empowers your team but also solidifies your role as an effective leader. 🚀

In the next post, I will describe how to leverage AI here and boost your productivity while writing performance reviews.