I am all for pairing up and interacting with people directly and in a human manner. It's good for building rapport and trust so that things run smoother in ever

I am all for pairing up and interacting with people directly and in a human manner. It's good for building rapport and trust so that things run smoother in every facet. That being said, I think impersonal reviews are still needed. You don't always have time for the soft human touch, especially at a smaller startup. The defensiveness some people have should really only ever be a short term problem. I've worked with people like that and found that being persistent, objective (follow standards that you make everyone aware of) and consistent with reviews fixed that over time. Rapport building is good , but you can't require it every time, so you need the other end of the spectrum too.