This doesn't answer the question asked here, does it?

@Graham, this was treated as a huge attack towards her and I heard criticism because of this comment for months.

@Graham The first part of the project - the longest part of it, several months long - was creating a super detailed documentation with plenty of unnecessary data and calculations. It was simply extremely detailed - 90% of these things had no influence on the final result but we were expected to spend time collecting this data. I said something like: "This looks good, but maybe we could adopt a big more agile approach: analyse the most important data and create quick wins, etc. This documentation is super accurate, which is great, but I have doubts, whether all this data will be used".

@Graham, There are few topics that aren't affected by politics or people's egos, no matter how strong you try. If you signal problems/ risks/ doubts you always risk making enemies. My biggest criticism lately came after a team meeting. A colleague was presenting her project. I knew her approach well, she presented it many times before so I understood it quite well.

No, don't do that unless you want the colleague to hate you and the harmonious life in the team to be disrupted.

@Kilisi, the guy had GOD on his side and that wasn't enough for you? They say companies tend to have unrealistic expectations but you took that to the next level ;)

@Old_Lamplighter, sure, but the question is how we define a good attitude. In my opinion a good attitude is: "I'm interested in A, there's plenty of materials online on A, so I sit down, spend a few days with it and learn the basics". Just stressing "I love to learn" doesn't prove anything if it's unsupported by facts. Actually it strikes me as so naive it's irritating.

@Old_Lamplighter, I once had an interview with a candidate and the HR lady who had done the screening was also here. We weren't searching for a very senior person, but sb with solid basics. In the first 10 mins it became clear the guy would reply to every a bit technical question in the vein of "I don't know but I'm eager to learn! I would love to learn that!". Debrief after the meeting: HR lady tells me she loves the candidate since he has a great attitude and, after my statement that unfortunately I need someone with skills, not just attitude, accuses me of not focusing on the right aspects.

For me this sounds as suggesting that there are clear rules for reviews: "At my company, whenever evaluations are conducted, the Section Managers ask everyone for a list of evaluators to help in creating a summary of that worker's contributions. They ask for 2 - 3 evaluators, at least on of which must be a direct report."