How Performance Management Is Killing Performance—and What to Do About It

Chapter 1

WELCOME TO THE PM REBOOT

IT SEEMS LIKE A MILLION YEARS AGO. In reality, it was 1985.

That was the year I took my first real job as a newly minted engineer at the age of twenty-two, working at the Boeing plant in Everett, Washington, in support of the 747 and 767 programs. I carpooled to work with a group of guys, leaving Seattle at 6:30 each morning to be sure that we were in our seats by 7:15. We all sat in a row of identical metal desks facing our manager’s door. No one had a computer; all of our data was stored on enormous mainframes, and if you wanted a printout, there were only a few guys in the group who could run it for you. One of the few other women in my group was our dedicated secretary (yes, secretary, not assistant), who ...