Evaluating developers [closed]

Question

I am a technical team leader of a small programming team, working on a project for an external client.

I was recently asked to produce written evaluations of my team members. I feel uncomfortable doing this, because I don't see myself as a management person and never thought of my colleagues much deeper than "A is reliable and B is a lazy bum".

But I am expected to produce more elaborate stuff to be read by actual managers, and my manager hinted that the purpose of this is rather to test my evaluation skills.

Any hints or resources on how to produce a quality evaluation? Are there standardized forms? How should I address this?

Thank you.

Answer 1

I have found that Joel's Professional Development Ladder and this construx site provided great advice on how to start. It helps to understand the various knowledge areas and what developers are expected to know and do. You can then evaluate developers on how competent they are in various knowledge areas and assign them a level accordingly.

You of course have to evaluate their work ethic and attitude etc which have nothing to do with development as such.