Small Improvements

Good Little App

Kommentare: I use Small Improvements to manage the objectives of my software development team. I use the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) method, which works pretty well with Small Improvements. I just list the key results in the description of the objective. The comments can then reference one of the key results. Originally we set the objectives semesterly, and they got lost amid the day-to-day work we do. We then changed to quarterly objectives, and that works much better. I work together with my employees to set the objectives, and they know pretty well what they need to accomplish throughout the quarter. It is important that the tool sends out emails to remind people of their objectives. I can really see how employees are working on the objectives throughout the quarter.

Vorteile:

- Manager and employee can continuously add comments to an objective to document milestones achieved, praises given, or changes in the objectives. At the end of the quarter I just read through them to come of with a rating for the objective - Daily digest to employees shows them when comments are added to objectives, and reminds them to log in to the system and keep a running update on their objectives - Performance reviews are done in writing by both employee and manager. Only after both parties see each others review we meet in person to discuss. This gives both parties the chance to think about the review of the other party, which leads to a fruitful discussion.

Nachteile:

- User interface is sometimes a bit confusing. There are multiple views of the objectives, and you can do different things in each. Since the tool doesn't get used every day I often find myself trying to remember where I can e.g. set the rating on an objective. - The tool offers a number of configurations, but it doesn't really guide you on a best practice of how to set and track objectives. I would love the tool to have a wizard to set up e.g. OKR that explains how to map that to the tool.

An amazing Performance Review Software

Kommentare: It is easy for our team to work with it. Setting goals and tracking them has never been this easy. With it, our performance reviews are faster and enjoyable. The kudos feature is nice for appreciating the team for their great work.

Vorteile:

It is a great software to use in setting goals and tracking them. It is easy to use and customize. Performance cycles can be created for all employees in the organization or just a section of them. It is easy to switch between different cycles to track the performances of different teams or individuals. The ability to generate charts to display the performance reviews makes comparison easy. The 1:1 meeting feature enables one to schedule a meeting and set the objectives for that conversation. It also provides feedback on all previously held meetings and the outcome of those meetings which makes it easy to keep track of progress over time. It allows one to send reminders to the team to prompt them to take a specified action. The employee's self-evaluation is listed side by side against that of the manager which makes it easy for the employee to compare the assessments and opens up room for a conversation regarding what can be improved on.

Nachteile:

Whereas the software is affordable for a small business, it becomes increasingly costly as the firm grows. It does not have a free version, offers a free trial though.

It's been okay.

Vorteile:

The aesthetic is nice, and using/sharing the 9-box grid with people your managing works well for peer reviews.

Nachteile:

It's easy to get disorganized or not easily find reviews you've been in for other people. Could link to reviews you're in the day of for easy access.

Easy to use for small offices with limited HR capacity

Kommentare: This seems like a really nice and innovative company. They provided us with a nonprofit license and it is so greatly appreciated!

Vorteile:

I got our annual review process out to everyone within minutes. It's all online and there's no paperwork to deal with until you print the very final version and put them in the folders. The other neat thing is the "Praise" feature. Although I would like greater participation, I have it synched with Slack so that staff can put in almost no effort to praise their colleagues in such a way that it's recorded to their personnel files. That's awesome.

Nachteile:

Some staff members haven't really adopted this for real use to check in on goals. I don't see it as a major issue with the software, but it might reflect on its usability.

Easy feedback collector for agile improvements cycle

Kommentare: We are able to track weekly highs and lows for our team-members.
Feature that enable and overall comment / result for each 1:1 meeting would be great. Example: cancelled, or cancelled and reason as holidays, etc.

Vorteile:

Customizable templates for 1:1 meetings and cycle reviews processes facilitates each type of meeting and how different managers approaches his team-members. Integration with outlook also helps preventing scheduling pain-points.

Nachteile:

Sometimes it not easy to look / browse for previous meeting notes. I would like to have few more integrations available.