Ask HN: How to approach the annual perf review in a political environment?
it's a typical performance review process: first i submit my comments about my work and my "goals" for the next year, then my boss adds their comments, then it gets filed away in an HR computer system. the de facto purpose of review is to justify (a) compensation matters and (b) personnel decisions -- this means the performance review can be a powerful weapon.
ideally, i would like to highlight my achievements in such a way that i avoid giving my boss any "rope" with which to "hang me" in their responses.
i have also considered opting out altogether (so that any comments made by my boss would not be based on anything i have written) though i'm not sure what the fallout would be.
how do you all go about walking these sorts of tightropes in your organizations?