Quarterly 1:1
Your single doc for the quarter. Goals, actions, wins, and review — all in one place.
TL;DR
- 3 goals max - Each one has a deliverable, a number, and a "why it matters"
- Break into actions - Month-by-month milestones. If you can't break it down, the goal isn't concrete enough.
- Win log at the bottom - Append every Friday, 5 min. One-liner per win with a number.
- Grade yourself at end of quarter - Hit / Partial / Miss for each goal. Write a one-paragraph summary.
- One doc. Don't scatter. - Goals, actions, wins, and review live here. Not in Notion, Slack, and a Google Doc.
How This Doc Works
| When | What you do |
|---|---|
| Start of quarter | Fill out Goals, Actions, Career Development, Support Needed. Review with your manager. |
| Every Friday | Append wins to the Win Log. 5 minutes. |
| Every 2 weeks | Use the Biweekly 1:1 to track progress against these goals. |
| End of quarter | Fill out End-of-Quarter Review. Grade each goal. Write your quarter summary. |
Your quarter summary becomes raw material for your Annual Self-Review. Four summaries = your year.
What Makes a Good Quarterly Goal
A quarterly goal answers: "What will exist at the end of this quarter that doesn't exist now?"
Every goal needs three things: a deliverable, a number, and a reason.
| Good | Bad | Why it's bad |
|---|---|---|
| "Ship notification service to prod, 0 P0 bugs for 2 weeks" | "Work on notifications" | No end state, no bar |
| "Reduce API latency from 800ms to <200ms p95" | "Improve performance" | No baseline, no target |
| "Run 20 user interviews, validate 2 product bets on roadmap" | "Do more user research" | Activity, no outcome |
| "Reduce spec revision rounds from 4+ to 1-2 across 10 specs" | "Write better specs" | No measure of "better" |
| "Mentor Jamie to ship features solo (currently needs pairing)" | "Help junior engineers" | Vague, no observable change |
The test: Read your goal to a teammate. If they can't tell whether you hit it at end of quarter, rewrite it.
For stretch goals that unlock capabilities (not just task lists), see Goal Setting.
Template
Quarter: Q[X] 20XX Person:
Goals
3 goals. Each one: verb + noun + measurable outcome.
Goal:
- Why it matters:
- Success looks like:
Goal:
- Why it matters:
- Success looks like:
Goal:
- Why it matters:
- Success looks like:
Actions This Quarter
Break each goal into month-by-month milestones. "Ship X by Week 4" — not "work on X."
If you can't break it down, the goal isn't concrete enough.
Goal 1:
Goal 2:
Goal 3:
Career Development
What will you be able to do at the end of this quarter that you can't do today?
Not "get better at X." The thing you'll do that proves you got better.
| Bad | Good |
|---|---|
| "Improve leadership" | "Run design critique for 10 people without manager backup" |
| "Improve communication" | "Present product strategy to exec team and get approved without revisions" |
| "Take more ownership" | "Ship a feature end-to-end as DRI, 0 P0 bugs" |
| "Learn debugging" | "Debug production issues in <30 minutes (currently 2+ hours)" |
- By end of quarter, I will be able to:
- How I'll build it:
- How we'll know it worked:
Support Needed
What do you need from your manager? Be specific. "Budget approval for $5K Redis" — not "more support."
End-of-Quarter Review
Fill this out in the last week of the quarter.
Goal 1:
- Result: What happened — with numbers
- Grade: Hit / Partial / Missed
- Why: One line — what helped or blocked you
Goal 2:
- Result:
- Grade:
- Why:
Goal 3:
- Result:
- Grade:
- Why:
Quarter Summary (one paragraph — 3-5 biggest wins with numbers, biggest gap, next quarter focus):
Win Log
Every Friday. 5 minutes. One line per win: [What you did] → [Result with number].
Shipped work, bugs fixed, things prevented, people unblocked, decisions influenced, people grown. Killing a bad idea with data is a win. Empty weeks are signal — investigate why.
Example: Senior Engineer
Quarter: Q2 2024 Person: Alex Chen
Goals
Goal: Ship payments v2 by end of Q2
- Why it matters: Unlocks enterprise customers worth $2M ARR
- Success looks like: 100% of transactions processed through new system
Goal: Reduce API latency to sub-200ms p95
- Why it matters: Current 800ms is causing 15% cart abandonment
- Success looks like: p95 latency < 200ms across all endpoints
Goal: Build team from 3 to 5 engineers
- Why it matters: Current team underwater with maintenance debt
- Success looks like: 2 senior engineers hired and onboarded
Actions This Quarter
Goal 1:
- Complete Stripe migration by Week 4
- Run parallel processing for 2 weeks (Week 5-6)
- Full cutover by Week 8
Goal 2:
- Database query optimization (Week 1-3)
- Implement Redis caching layer (Week 4-6)
- Load testing and tuning (Week 7-8)
Goal 3:
- Job descriptions live by Week 1
- First offers out by Week 6
- Start dates before Q3
Career Development
- By end of quarter, I will be able to: Design and defend architecture for 6-month projects in front of 20-person eng org
- How I'll build it: Lead payments v2 design reviews (8 sessions), present architecture monthly to eng org, get feedback from Staff+ engineers
- How we'll know it worked: Payments v2 architecture approved with zero major revisions, able to answer scalability questions without help
Support Needed
- Design partner for Stripe migration edge cases
- Budget approval for Redis infrastructure ($5K/month)
- Recruiting bandwidth from HR for hiring pipeline
End-of-Quarter Review
Goal 1: Ship payments v2 by end of Q2
- Result: 100% transactions on new system since Week 9. Zero payment failures in 3 weeks.
- Grade: Hit
- Why: Parallel processing for 2 weeks caught edge cases before cutover
Goal 2: Reduce API latency to sub-200ms p95
- Result: p95 dropped from 800ms to 180ms after Redis caching layer
- Grade: Hit
- Why: Query optimization alone got to 400ms, Redis closed the gap
Goal 3: Build team from 3 to 5 engineers
- Result: 1 senior hired (started June 3). 2nd offer rejected. 3rd role still open.
- Grade: Partial (1 of 2 hired)
- Why: Lost 2nd candidate to competing offer — comp band $20K below market
Quarter Summary:
Q2 2024: Shipped payments v2 to 100% of transactions (zero failures in 3 weeks), reduced API latency from 800ms to 180ms p95. Hired 1 of 2 engineers — lost 2nd to comp gap. Biggest gap: hiring pipeline. Q3 focus: close 2nd hire with adjusted comp band, onboard both.
Win Log
Week of Apr 8
- Completed Stripe migration → All 3 payment methods working in staging
- Identified N+1 query in account aggregation → Flagged for Goal 2 optimization
Week of Apr 15
- Shipped query optimization → p95 from 800ms to 400ms, 50% improvement
- Presented payments v2 architecture to 20-person eng org → Approved, zero major revisions
Week of May 6
- Redis caching layer deployed to prod → p95 from 400ms to 180ms, Goal 2 hit
- Offered senior engineer role to candidate A → Accepted, start date June 3
Week of May 20
- Full payments v2 cutover → 100% transactions on new system, zero failures
- Lost candidate B to competing offer → Their comp $20K above our band
Week of Jun 10
- Onboarded new senior engineer → First PR shipped day 4
- Payments v2: 3 weeks in prod, zero payment failures → Goal 1 confirmed hit
Example: Product Manager
Quarter: Q2 2024 Person: Maria Santos
Goals
Goal: Launch checkout redesign, increase conversion from 8% to 12%
- Why it matters: Each 1% improvement = $500K annual revenue
- Success looks like: 12%+ conversion sustained for 2 weeks post-launch
Goal: Build user research practice — 20 interviews, validate 2 product bets
- Why it matters: Roadmap based on gut feel, not customer insight
- Success looks like: 20 interviews completed, 2 features specced from findings
Goal: Reduce spec revision rounds from 4+ to 1-2
- Why it matters: Specs taking 3 weeks = shipping 40% slower than competitors
- Success looks like: 80% of specs approved in ≤2 rounds, measured across 10 specs
Actions This Quarter
Goal 1:
- A/B test on current checkout to establish baseline (Week 1-2)
- Ship redesign to 10% of users (Week 3-4)
- Ramp to 50%, monitor metrics (Week 5-6)
- Full rollout if metrics hold (Week 7-8)
Goal 2:
- Recruit 20 users for interviews (Week 1-2)
- 5 interviews/week (Week 3-6)
- Synthesize into 3 product bets (Week 7-8)
- Specs for top 2 bets, get eng buy-in (Week 9-10)
Goal 3:
- Review last 10 specs for common revision patterns (Week 1)
- Create spec template with eng/design checklist (Week 2)
- Apply template to every spec (Week 3+)
Career Development
- By end of quarter, I will be able to: Run end-to-end product discovery and ship without manager review at every step
- How I'll build it: Own checkout redesign from research to launch, present findings to exec team
- How we'll know it worked: Checkout shipped with >12% conversion, manager didn't step in, exec team approved findings
Support Needed
- Design resources for checkout redesign (4 weeks dedicated)
- Budget for user research incentives ($100 x 20 = $2K)
- Eng lead to review spec template (2 hours in Week 2)
Example: Junior Engineer
Quarter: Q3 2024 Person: Jamie Rodriguez
Goals
Goal: Ship notification system end-to-end without senior engineer pairing
- Why it matters: Proves independence, unblocks team from pairing on my work
- Success looks like: Notifications in production, 0 P0 bugs for 2 weeks
Goal: Reduce PR revision rounds from 4+ to 1-2
- Why it matters: My PRs take 3x longer than team average, blocking velocity
- Success looks like: 80% of PRs approved in ≤2 rounds (measured over 20 PRs)
Goal: Debug production issues without escalating
- Why it matters: Currently waking up seniors for issues I should handle
- Success looks like: Handle 5 production issues start-to-finish on on-call
Actions This Quarter
Goal 1:
- Tech spec and approval (Week 1-2)
- Backend (Week 3-5)
- Frontend + integration (Week 6-8)
- Testing and launch (Week 9-10)
Goal 2:
- Read team style guide, write personal checklist (Week 1)
- Self-review every PR using checklist before requesting review (Week 2+)
- Pairing session with Sarah on "what good code looks like" (Week 2)
Goal 3:
- Shadow senior on 3 production incidents (Month 1)
- Document runbooks for 5 common issues (Month 2)
- Take on-call with senior backup (Month 3)
Career Development
- By end of quarter, I will be able to: Write production-ready code that passes review in 1-2 rounds
- How I'll build it: Study team style guide, review 10 senior PRs for patterns, apply checklist to every PR
- How we'll know it worked: 80% of PRs approved in ≤2 rounds (currently 20%)
Support Needed
- Pair with Sarah for 2 hours in Week 2 (code review practices)
- Access to production logs and monitoring dashboards
- Senior engineer as backup during first on-call week (Month 3)
Common Mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Goals without numbers | "Improve performance" → "Reduce latency from 800ms to <200ms p95" |
| Actions without dates | "Work on optimization" → "Ship query optimization by Week 3" |
| Career development is vague | "Get better at leadership" → "Run design critique for 10 people without backup" |
| Support needed is vague | "More support" → "Budget approval for $5K/month Redis by Week 2" |
| Win log ignored all quarter | 5 min every Friday. If you skip it, you lose 80% of your wins by review time. |
| Everything graded "Hit" | "Hit" on all 3 goals = aimed too low. "Partial" is useful data, not failure. |
| Goals scattered across tools | One doc. Goals, actions, wins, review — all here. |
Related:
- Performance Reviews - How the full quarterly + annual cycle works
- Goal Setting - Stretch goals that unlock capabilities
- Biweekly 1:1 - Tracking progress between quarters
- Annual Self-Review - Compiling quarterly summaries into your annual narrative