Giving feedback to subordinates can be just as stressful as receiving it. Yet evaluations are a critical component of retention, employer/employee expectations, and production in general. Having an evaluation framework and system in place creates efficiencies, fills voids, and benefits everyone on the team. Enter Ignacio Martinez, associate director at Grand Studio in Chicago. He’ll be delivering a talk at the Design Ops Summit in September, “Fair and Effective Designer Evaluation”.

In this podcast episode, Ignacio and Lou explore the importance of a well-structured evaluation framework that highlights “glows and grows” in the areas of craft, quality, client interaction, and teamwork. Ignacio’s system, built on the very accessible Google Sheets, combines quantitative metrics with qualitative feedback to reduce bias and offer a comprehensive assessment of designers' performance. His framework allows for continuous feedback from peers, project directors, and supervisors.

What You'll Learn from this Episode:

- The principles and methodologies behind creating a fair and effective designer evaluation system

- How contributions from peers, career managers, and directors can create a robust evaluation system

- The importance of a structured framework with clear categories and traits such as craft, quality, client interaction, and teamwork.

- The benefits of incorporating both quantitative metrics and qualitative feedback to minimize bias and provide comprehensive evaluations.

- How to create a framework for continuous ongoing feedback from peers, project directors, and supervisors

- How evaluation criteria may evolve based on internal priorities

Quick Reference Guide:

0:13 - Intro of Ignacio

3:54 - Evaluating designers then and now

6:32 - Gut feelings versus using a system

8:27 - Defining desired traits and levels

11:49 - The framework of the documentation

14:54 - The Rosenverse

17:34 - Who are the evaluators? Are they biased? Are they anonymous?

21:33 - The frequency of evaluations

22:36 - Consider what makes the business run

26:05 - The importance of transparency

26:51 - Ignacio’s gift for listeners

Resources and Links from Today's Episode:

Blurb of Ignacio’s “Fair and Effective Designer Evaluation” https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designops-summit/2024/sessions/fair-and-effective-designer-evaluation/

DesignOps Summit virtual conference - September 23-25 https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designops-summit/2024/

Rosenverse https://rosenfeldmedia.com/rosenverse/

Donald Glover https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2255973/