I like the idea of a consensus assessment. Sometimes a person's value to the team is less quantifiable on paper than someone else's, but that doesn't mean it's

I like the idea of a consensus assessment. Sometimes a person's value to the team is less quantifiable on paper than someone else's, but that doesn't mean it's intangible. It's usually quite tangible, and if everyone notices it (or the reverse), that's usually a good sign of the person's value-add. Not everyone is going to be the tireless codebot on the team, but that doesn't mean everyone isn't playing a critical role (Joel Spolsky obviously goes on at great lengths about this). Consensus-style reviews would probably arrive at a fair assessment of such value a lot more readily than individual writeups would. Also, a lot of people make critical contributions that just don't get noticed by the team lead because those contributions -- moral support, culture, taking time away from one's own work to assist others -- aren't boss-facing. But if you asked his or her peers, this person would get a stellar review. In situations like these, group feedback seems pretty important.