

Ask HN: Is the "commitment form" suitable for startups? - alpb

When I used to work at a large software company in the past, there was an obligation of filling out Commitment Form every month or so.<p>Basically what it includes is, short descriptions of which tasks are you going to do in this period, details and accountabilities, related milestones and due dates in a tabular format.<p>After that period finishes, every employee used to have a one-to-one meeting with his/her manager and evaluate which ones are completed and which ones had problems achieving. This was also a way of officially keeping records of the progress done by an employee.<p>Do you recommend this technique for performance measurement in a small (bootstrapped, 2-5 people, "working remotely") internet startup? Are there any internet startups applying similar concepts as far as you know?
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whichdan
From the perspective of a f/t telecommuting programmer - a commitment form
sounds awful. We usually have a few short meetings each week to review what's
being worked on, and to bring up any new tasks. When you have a team as small
as you're describing, you'd really function better from less overhead and less
micromanagement.

That said, if you're in a situation where most tasks tend to take under a
week, you could probably effectively use a ticket/bug system to keep track of
what needs to be done.

