Comments on: The Death of Honest Review Scores http://www.inelegantsolutions.com/2009/01/the-death-of-honest-review-scores/ Brute Force is Always an Option Sat, 28 Aug 2010 02:03:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Jonathan Bailey http://www.inelegantsolutions.com/2009/01/the-death-of-honest-review-scores/comment-page-1/#comment-453 Jonathan Bailey Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:45:56 +0000 http://www.inelegantsolutions.com/?p=496#comment-453 That doesn't come as much of a shock to me. I've been pretty fortunate to avoid jobs that require me to do annual evaluations but my father works in HR and told me that the average "annual review" score is about a 4.5 out of 5 when placed on a numeric scale.<br><br>It seems these "reviews" are really more than self congratulation and ego boosting in many cases. You pretty much have to burn the place down to get a truly negative review and, even then, it's going to be a "needs improvement".<br><br>There is no such thing as an honest employee review it seems. That doesn't come as much of a shock to me. I've been pretty fortunate to avoid jobs that require me to do annual evaluations but my father works in HR and told me that the average “annual review” score is about a 4.5 out of 5 when placed on a numeric scale.

It seems these “reviews” are really more than self congratulation and ego boosting in many cases. You pretty much have to burn the place down to get a truly negative review and, even then, it's going to be a “needs improvement”.

There is no such thing as an honest employee review it seems.

]]> By: Jonathan Bailey http://www.inelegantsolutions.com/2009/01/the-death-of-honest-review-scores/comment-page-1/#comment-331 Jonathan Bailey Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:45:56 +0000 http://www.inelegantsolutions.com/?p=496#comment-331 That doesn't come as much of a shock to me. I've been pretty fortunate to avoid jobs that require me to do annual evaluations but my father works in HR and told me that the average "annual review" score is about a 4.5 out of 5 when placed on a numeric scale.<br><br>It seems these "reviews" are really more than self congratulation and ego boosting in many cases. You pretty much have to burn the place down to get a truly negative review and, even then, it's going to be a "needs improvement".<br><br>There is no such thing as an honest employee review it seems. That doesn't come as much of a shock to me. I've been pretty fortunate to avoid jobs that require me to do annual evaluations but my father works in HR and told me that the average “annual review” score is about a 4.5 out of 5 when placed on a numeric scale.

It seems these “reviews” are really more than self congratulation and ego boosting in many cases. You pretty much have to burn the place down to get a truly negative review and, even then, it's going to be a “needs improvement”.

There is no such thing as an honest employee review it seems.

]]> By: Jonathan Bailey http://www.inelegantsolutions.com/2009/01/the-death-of-honest-review-scores/comment-page-1/#comment-226 Jonathan Bailey Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:45:56 +0000 http://www.inelegantsolutions.com/?p=496#comment-226 That doesn't come as much of a shock to me. I've been pretty fortunate to avoid jobs that require me to do annual evaluations but my father works in HR and told me that the average "annual review" score is about a 4.5 out of 5 when placed on a numeric scale.<br><br>It seems these "reviews" are really more than self congratulation and ego boosting in many cases. You pretty much have to burn the place down to get a truly negative review and, even then, it's going to be a "needs improvement".<br><br>There is no such thing as an honest employee review it seems. That doesn't come as much of a shock to me. I've been pretty fortunate to avoid jobs that require me to do annual evaluations but my father works in HR and told me that the average “annual review” score is about a 4.5 out of 5 when placed on a numeric scale.

It seems these “reviews” are really more than self congratulation and ego boosting in many cases. You pretty much have to burn the place down to get a truly negative review and, even then, it's going to be a “needs improvement”.

There is no such thing as an honest employee review it seems.

]]> By: Yaron http://www.inelegantsolutions.com/2009/01/the-death-of-honest-review-scores/comment-page-1/#comment-225 Yaron Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:44:09 +0000 http://www.inelegantsolutions.com/?p=496#comment-225 Heh, reminds me of an annual review I went through once, when I worked in a very large organization. Before the interview and review by my manager, I had to fill up a form for self review. Many of the questions were about rating myself on a numerical scale relative to others. So it felt very honest to state that in some things I was merely average (e.g. like everyone else), or a little above average.<br>Soon after submitting it I was called up by my manager in a hurry. He told me that I filled up a terrible self-review form, and he can't pass this up, since apparently average, or slightly above average, rates would put me as someone with the lowest scores in the organization.<br>Turns out that the actual average person in the organization had to be rated as noticeably above average in right about everything, with some as way above average... Heh, reminds me of an annual review I went through once, when I worked in a very large organization. Before the interview and review by my manager, I had to fill up a form for self review. Many of the questions were about rating myself on a numerical scale relative to others. So it felt very honest to state that in some things I was merely average (e.g. like everyone else), or a little above average.
Soon after submitting it I was called up by my manager in a hurry. He told me that I filled up a terrible self-review form, and he can't pass this up, since apparently average, or slightly above average, rates would put me as someone with the lowest scores in the organization.
Turns out that the actual average person in the organization had to be rated as noticeably above average in right about everything, with some as way above average…

]]> By: Jonathan Bailey http://www.inelegantsolutions.com/2009/01/the-death-of-honest-review-scores/comment-page-1/#comment-224 Jonathan Bailey Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:00:05 +0000 http://www.inelegantsolutions.com/?p=496#comment-224 First thing is first: "I'm a bit more picky about what I put in my computer than what I put in my mouth."<br><br>That kind of scared me. I know what you mean, but taken out of context it might sound like you are a bit too much about your computer :)<br><br>I was thinking about your site as I was doing this review and I remembered that you had a good balance. I remember one day going through and checking out the 1s, the 2s and working my way up. I noticed a few reviews at each number, as it should be when you have enough reviews.<br><br>If anyone wants to see an example of exactly how you don't screw up a review score system, I'd recommend your site, it's pretty much on the money. First thing is first: “I'm a bit more picky about what I put in my computer than what I put in my mouth.”

That kind of scared me. I know what you mean, but taken out of context it might sound like you are a bit too much about your computer :)

I was thinking about your site as I was doing this review and I remembered that you had a good balance. I remember one day going through and checking out the 1s, the 2s and working my way up. I noticed a few reviews at each number, as it should be when you have enough reviews.

If anyone wants to see an example of exactly how you don't screw up a review score system, I'd recommend your site, it's pretty much on the money.

]]> By: cybele http://www.inelegantsolutions.com/2009/01/the-death-of-honest-review-scores/comment-page-1/#comment-223 cybele Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:31:03 +0000 http://www.inelegantsolutions.com/?p=496#comment-223 I don't care much for assigning a number to my reviews (but I do it anyway) and consider anything from 6-10 to be on the positive side ... as 5 would mean neutral and anything less would fall into the negative end. I give out a lot of 6s and 7s.<br><br>I generally regard other reviews similarly - if it's in the middle range, I regard it as "mostly harmless."<br><br>I recently got an angry note from a manufacturer about an "unfair" review for a product I ultimately gave a 6 out of 10 ... which I pretty much said was a decent product but simply not to my liking.<br><br>I think for sites that have oodles of reviews (like mine), the ability to sort the reviews by this system is rather helpful. But then again, I'm talking about low-risk & low-cost products. I'm a bit more picky about what I put in my computer than what I put in my mouth. I don't care much for assigning a number to my reviews (but I do it anyway) and consider anything from 6-10 to be on the positive side … as 5 would mean neutral and anything less would fall into the negative end. I give out a lot of 6s and 7s.

I generally regard other reviews similarly – if it's in the middle range, I regard it as “mostly harmless.”

I recently got an angry note from a manufacturer about an “unfair” review for a product I ultimately gave a 6 out of 10 … which I pretty much said was a decent product but simply not to my liking.

I think for sites that have oodles of reviews (like mine), the ability to sort the reviews by this system is rather helpful. But then again, I'm talking about low-risk & low-cost products. I'm a bit more picky about what I put in my computer than what I put in my mouth.

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