A coworker of mine used to walk into her annual performance review with nothing but a vague sense that she'd "had a good year," which never translated into the raise conversation actually going anywhere.
This year she used an AI chatbot to help organize the actual specifics — she listed out projects, numbers, and feedback from the year in a messy brain dump, and asked it to help structure that into a clear summary of concrete accomplishments instead of vague impressions.
It also helped her practice how to frame a raise or promotion ask directly instead of hinting at it, since she'd always struggled with sounding pushy versus sounding like she was underselling herself. Having a few solid ways to phrase the ask gave her more confidence walking in.
She still knew her actual manager and company culture better than any chatbot did, so she adjusted the tone to match how her workplace actually talks about these things. But going in with an organized case instead of vague confidence changed how the conversation actually went.
A performance review rewards whoever shows up with specifics, not whoever worked hardest but can't articulate it. Getting your own year organized into a clear case is worth doing before you sit down, not during.
If you want the slow, no-jargon version of all this — the stuff I wish someone had handed me before I fumbled through it myself — that's exactly what I built On Ramp AI for. Check it out here.