Skip to main content
Performance reviews are essential, but they don’t need to be painful. Traditional review cycles are often slow, inconsistent, and filled with blank-page dread. Windmill changes that. By turning open-ended prompts into interactive flows powered by AI, Windmill helps teams complete thoughtful, evidence-based reviews in minutes instead of weeks. Whether you’re running quarterly peer reviews or annual upward assessments, Windy—our AI assistant inside Slack—helps keep the process lightweight and grounded in real work.

​
How Windmill makes reviews easier

Rather than asking managers to write reviews from scratch, Windy gathers continuous feedback, meeting recaps, and context from tools your team already uses—like Slack, Google Workspace, Salesforce, Jira, and GitHub. When it’s time to write a review, Windmill surfaces a complete picture of employee performance and generates a structured draft to review, revise, or approve. The result? Reviews that take 6 minutes, not 6 hours.

​
What types of reviews does Windmill support?

Windmill supports four types of reviews:
  • Self reviews — employees reflect on their own impact and growth
  • Peer reviews — colleagues provide feedback on collaboration and strengths
  • Upward feedback — direct reports share feedback about their manager
  • Manager assessments — managers draft comprehensive performance reviews
Self reviews, peer reviews, and upward feedback are all completed within Slack. Each of these reviews is highly configurable; companies can ask employees any specific questions in the phrasing of their choice. Manager assessments take place in the Windmill Dashboard, where managers have access to their direct report’s self review, peer feedback, upward feedback, as well as relevant work context from the review period.

​
The complete review workflow

Here’s how a typical performance review cycle flows in Windmill:

​
1. Employees complete reviews in Slack

Windy uses context from the entire review cycle to help employees write authentic, example-driven reviews. Instead of handing employees a blank sheet and asking them to remember their accomplishments, Windy pulls in real examples, highlights, and feedback in a conversational manner. When it’s time for a review, Windy reaches out in Slack with relevant context and guides employees through the discussion. Responses are saved automatically and uploaded into the Windmill platform.

​
2. Managers review and draft

Once all self, peer, and upward feedback is in, Windy compiles a Performance Review Packet that’s available in the manager dashboard. It includes:
  • A summary of employee impact pulling from system data, including past feedback, goals, and work activity
  • The employee’s self review
  • The employee’s peer reviews
  • Upward feedback from the employee’s reports (if they have any)
Managers can then start to draft their performance reviews in the Windmill platform with this context.

​
3. Calibration and finalization

After managers submit draft reviews, admins can open a calibration phase to compare ratings across managers and ensure fairness. The Calibration Board allows leadership to review ratings, identify outliers, and make adjustments before reviews are finalized.

​
4. Progress tracking and analytics

Throughout the cycle, managers and HR can track progress across the organization. The Analytics dashboard shows participation rates, review status by team, and outstanding tasks—ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

​
Why teams choose Windmill for reviews

​
Reviews grounded in real work

Windmill continuously collects feedback and activity data from your tools, so reviews are based on actual work—not distant memories or biased recollections.

​
Faster and more consistent

Instead of managers spending hours writing from scratch, Windy compiles evidence-based drafts. Reviews that used to take 6 hours now take 6 minutes.

​
Higher quality feedback

Windy is trained to prompt for specificity and balance. When responses are vague, Windy follows up with nudges focused on work products and outcomes rather than personalities—ensuring reviews are actionable, fair, and grounded in reality.

​
Continuous, not annual

Windmill works best when performance isn’t treated as a once-a-year event. You can configure review cycles to run monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, or on a custom schedule. Windy continuously collects feedback and activity data, so your next review is always ready.

​
Getting started

Ready to run your first performance review cycle?
  • Cycles — Set up your first cycle with the right review types and timeline
  • Self Reviews — Employee self-reflection and performance assessment in Slack
  • Peer Reviews — Collect structured peer feedback through nominations and conversation
  • Upward Reviews — Structured feedback from direct reports about their manager
  • Manager reviews — Draft comprehensive reviews with AI assistance
  • Tracking progress — Monitor completion across your organization