Annual performance reviews have long been criticized as ineffective, yet most organizations continue relying on them as their primary development tool. A comprehensive analysis of how leading companies design environments where talent thrives reveals that the highest-performing organizations have abandoned this outdated approach in favor of dramatically compressed feedback cycles. Among the companies examined, ecommerce technology firm Rokt stands out for its shift from six-month calibrations to six-week check-ins, a change that reflects the company's broader philosophy about how rapid feedback enables rapid development. Why Feedback Frequency Matters The logic connecting feedback frequency to development speed is straightforward. When employees...