> Think about it - what would my appraisal have looked like?
>
>    What is your job?
>      I'm supposed to keep the computers running.
>
>    What did you achieve last year?
>      I successfully kept the computers running.
>
>    What are your goals for this year?
>      I hope to keep the computers running.
>
> At this point, I have to wonder - why am I filling this form out again?
> What "goals" or "achievements" can I invent to put in these boxes? How
> can I pretend these are related to the company mission?

As you were the entire IT department in your last job, then I would 
expect your objectives and goals would be more like department goals. 
Things like "% of staff requests answered within 4 hours", or "% of 
uptime for critical servers and infrastructure" or "implement a new 
system to increase storage and backup capacity" whatever is actually 
important for your employer. You can then set targets and measure your 
performance against them.

> My new employer - heh, "new". I've been there over a year! Oh yes, which
> is why I apparently need to fill out an appraisal form. Any ideas for
> creative ways to say "last year I wrote code, this year I will write
> code"? ;-)

Don't you have certain projects you are meant to work on? Your goals 
should be based on things like "complete project X by date Y" or "become 
the company expert for Z" or personal development type stuff "chair a 
customer review" or "mentor new staff" etc. Did you ever hear of SMART 
objectives? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria

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