[ordinaryperson]

If you have humans, you have politics. You can't escape that. We're not robots.

You're right though that the feedback should not be anonymous, I've seen that in action and it just leads to the kind of Machiavellian scheming you describe.

But if (non-anonymous) colleague writes in a system that she thought I was brusque to her, that I wasn't communicative enough during a project, I'd rather know immediately so we can talk it out rather than have her lob it like a bomb at the end of the year.

[sheepmullet]

> But if (non-anonymous) colleague writes in a system that she thought I was brusque to her, that I wasn't communicative

So if a colleague writes an email to your manager, your managers manager, HR, and to your future manager about your poor handling of an issue you would take that well?

Better than to an email addressed just to you?

[ordinaryperson]

Why would you assume they'd do one (email you) but not the other? If they're upset they're going to do both anyway, you can't stop them.

The point of this system is to get that feedback immediately instead of down the road.

You want to junk review systems completely, OK. But if you're going to have a review system, better to get that info in the moment.

I'd also add that negative feedback of others makes you (the complainer) also look bad, so there's a built-in incentive for career-minded people to be judicious in their response.