In an hour I have a meeting with my manager by phone about my progress towards my SMART goals so far this year. The informal feedback on my work has been good but it will be different to have the meeting by phone instead of in person. It's hard to read someone by the tone of their voice instead of by their body language.
SMART goals are
S Specific
M Measurable
A Achievable
R Relevant
T Time bound
If you are unfamiliar with this, learn more here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria
I haven't achieved some of my goals for Q2, as some of the tasks defined at year-end were assigned to someone else and then this person was fired (COVID-19 related not performance-related) so the old person who used to do them picked them back up. At the same time I've been doing other things beyond the scope of my goals so I don't think I'll get a bad review, just maybe a revise direction on what to do for the rest of Q2 and all of Q3 and Q4.
SMART goals are a bit silly but I suppose it is support for justifying bonuses, promotions, etc, and obviously back up for disciplinary actions. If someone got fired for underperforming but it wasn't documented they might have a legal case. I suppose like everything else, you need back up to support what is done at a Human resources level to cover you a$$.
My manager is laid back enough and is a genuinely nice person who still is effective at his technical role so if things weren't going well he wouldn't be an ass about it, he'd explain what needs to improve etc. And he can make hard decisions like the Covid-19 firings when needs be. It wasn't up to him but the higher ups told him it had to be done.
How is your week going? Do you have performance reviews half yearly or just yearly or at all?