# Write a review

> How self, peer and manager reviews are written, submitted, finished, shared and confirmed

Every review you owe shows as a **Write a review** task on **Performance → To do**.

## Write and send

1. Open **Performance → To do** and choose the task.
2. Answer the questions. A rating question offers each point of the scale plus **Not sure**, which never counts. A rating comment holds up to 300 characters, and a written answer up to the length the form sets, from 50 to 1,500.
3. Except on upward feedback, add links with **Add link**: https only, up to 3 per answer and 6 per form. A link to a site that is not on your workspace's allowed sites is marked, and asks **Open this link?** before it opens.
4. On a self review, add up to 10 links under **Materials for your reviewer** with **Add material**. You can change them until you submit.
5. Send it with the button for your review: **Submit self review**, **Send feedback** for a peer, **Send anonymously** for [upward feedback](/docs/performance/upward-feedback/), or **Finish review** for the manager. Self, peer and upward answers cannot be changed afterwards.

Answers save as you type. Your self review is read by your reviewer and admins. Peer feedback is read only by the person's reviewer, with your name, and the person never sees it. A peer can turn a request down with **Decline**, then **Decline request**, adding a **Reason (optional)** of up to 600 characters for the reviewer. Anything already written is deleted.

The reviewer or an admin can give a self or peer review more time with **Extend**. An admin can send a submitted self or peer review back with **Return to draft** and a **Reason**, which you see on the form.

## Finish as the manager

Beside the questions, the manager's form shows the **Self review**, **Peers** and **History**.

1. Choose **Finish review**.
2. If the cycle lets the reviewer decide, pick **Share with [name]** or **Keep private for now**. A preview shows what the person will see.
3. Tick **This is my own assessment. I chose every rating.** and confirm with **Finish and share** or **Finish and keep private**, or **Finish review** when the cycle sets sharing.

Finishing withdraws any self or peer request still open. A review kept private can be shared later from its review page with **Share review**, also after the round closes, or reopened with **Reopen my review**, which keeps your answers.

A shared review is never edited or unshared. To fix something, the reviewer or an admin uses **Add a correction**: up to 5 per review, 2,000 characters each, dated under the review.

## Allowed link sites

An admin keeps the list under **Settings → Review settings**, on the **Links in reviews** card: **Add a site** takes a name like github.com, and a site covers its subdomains. The list holds up to 20 sites and starts empty, so until you add one every link shows the warning. The list never blocks a link; it only decides which links open without a warning.

## Read your shared review

A shared review opens from **About you** on **Performance → Reviews**, newest round first. It
lists your newest 100 reviews; older ones do not show there. **I have read this** records that you read it, not that you agree. You can add one **Response (optional)** of up to 2,000 characters, then or later with **Add your response**. Confirm each correction with **I have read the correction from [date]**.

## Worked example

Northlake's Q3 2026 round for the Platform team opens on 1 October, so self and peer reviews are due 11 October and manager reviews 22 October. Tomasz adds 3 links as materials and submits the self review on 9 October. Aleksandra sends peer feedback; Zofia declines, saying they did not work together this quarter. Ewa, Tomasz's manager, finishes on 20 October with **Share with Tomasz**. Tomasz confirms with **I have read this** and adds a short response. A week later Ewa adds a correction to a project name, and Tomasz confirms it.

> [!AGENT]
> Help me draft my Q3 2026 self review in SquadBear from the work I did this quarter. I pick every rating and submit it myself.

## Related

- [Run a review round](/docs/performance/run-a-round/)
- [Draft reviews with your assistant](/docs/performance/draft-with-your-assistant/)
- [Who sees what in Performance](/docs/performance/who-sees-what/)