Conduct a manager feedback session before your review

Proactive Feedback Is Career Judo

Most PMs receive feedback during formal reviews — too late to act on it before the rating is locked in. Kim Scott's Radical Candor and HBR's writing on trust both argue that PM-initiated feedback sessions — 4 weeks before formal review — produce better career outcomes because they convert the formal review from a surprise to a confirmation of work already done.

How the Conduct a manager feedback session before your review Prompt Works

The prompt opens with explicit purpose framing, follows with seven sequenced questions, establishes session discipline (take notes, don't defend), and builds a 48-hour post-session response. The stop-doing-it question is the highest-signal one — asking for subtraction surfaces patterns most managers hesitate to volunteer.

When to Use It

• A formal review is 4-8 weeks out.
• You sense your manager has unspoken concerns.
• A promotion cycle is coming and you want to reduce surprises.
• A new manager is still forming views and you want to shape the relationship.
• A previous review surprised you and you want to prevent a repeat.

Common Pitfalls

• Defending in the room. Defense shuts down feedback. Take notes, ask clarifying questions, commit to reviewing later.
• Asking for encouragement. "What am I doing well?" produces platitudes. Ask for subtraction.
• No written followup. Verbal feedback decays. Write back within 48 hours.

Sources

• Radical Candor — Kim Scott
• Kim Scott — Kim Malone Scott
• Begin with Trust — Harvard Business Review
• The Feedback Fallacy — Harvard Business Review