Pairwell documentation

Pairwell keeps 1:1s, performance reviews, feedback and personal goals in Jira, next to the work. Each person's records are seen only by them, the managers above them in Pairwell's directory and your HR admins.

Open it from Apps > Pairwell. The tabs are Home, 1:1s, Reviews, Feedback, Goals, My team (for managers), HR (for HR admins) and Settings (for HR admins and Jira admins). Jira admins also find the settings under Jira settings > Apps > Pairwell.

Getting started (Jira admins)

1. Name your HR admins. Settings > Who can see what: pick people, or Jira groups whose members are HR admins (groups are kept by id, so renaming a group doesn't break this). HR admins import the reporting lines, run review cycles and can read submitted reviews, feedback and goals for everyone, never private notes or drafts. Every change to the HR admins is in the audit trail, and people made HR admins are told by Jira email.
2. Pick a notification work item. Settings > Notifications and Jira: a work item (for example HR-1 "Pairwell notifications") in a project everyone who uses Pairwell can browse. Jira can only email people about a work item, so Pairwell's reminders go through that item's notify email. Only people who can browse it receive them. Without one, everything works in the app; Home shows what is waiting.
3. Optional: the default project for work items made from 1:1 action items, reminder timing, whether HR admins may read 1:1s, whether people see who opened their records, and how long the audit trail is kept.

Being a Jira admin gives no access to people's records. A Jira admin who also needs to read reviews must be an HR admin, and adding yourself is in the audit trail like any other change.

Setting up the directory (HR admins)

The directory decides who is whose manager, and so who can read what. HR > Directory:

• Import from CSV with the columns person, manager, team, title. People and managers are emails or Jira account ids (account ids are the safe choice: an email hidden by profile privacy only matches when Jira finds exactly one person). A header row is skipped. Press the check first: it lists every line and any problem, and changes nothing. Then import.
• Or add and edit people one by one.
• A manager who reports (directly or not) to their own report is refused, so the directory never has a loop.
• Download the directory as CSV any time.

Managers see everyone below them (their reports, their reports' reports, and so on). When you change someone's manager, read access moves with them at once.

Running a review cycle (HR admins)

HR > Review cycles > New cycle:

1. Name (like "H2 2026 reviews") and due dates for self, peer and manager reviews.
2. Questions. Start from the suggested questions or write your own. Each question is a written answer or a rating, asked on the self, manager and/or peer form, required or optional.
3. Rating scale. 2 to 10 points, lowest first, one label per line (for example "Not yet, Developing, Meets expectations, Exceeds, Outstanding").
4. Who is reviewed: teams from the directory, or everyone in it.
5. Peer reviews: on or off, peers per person (1 to 10), who picks them (the person, or their managers), and who reads them: managers and HR only, also the person without names, or also the person with names.
6. Launch. Each person gets a self review and their manager in the directory gets a manager review. Large companies launch in batches; keep the page open until it says done. People without a manager are listed so you can fix the directory and launch again (it only adds what is missing). After launch only the name and due dates can change.

While the cycle runs:

• HR > Completion shows, per person, the self review, manager review, whether it was shared and acknowledged, and peers asked, submitted and declined. Filter by team and download it as CSV. Completion shows states only, never answers.
• Reopen a submitted review so its author can change it (sharing and acknowledgement reset): HR > Completion > Manage on the person's row.
• Reassign a manager review that isn't submitted yet (same Manage menu), for example after a manager leaves. The new author starts from a blank form: the previous author's draft is cleared and never shown to them.
• Close the cycle when it's over: nobody can change their reviews afterwards, and everything stays readable.

For managers

• Home lists the reviews you have to write, your next 1:1s and anything waiting for you.
• Reviews: write the manager review with the person's submitted self review alongside. Save a draft as often as you like (drafts are yours alone), then submit. When you are ready, share it with the person. They acknowledge it when they have read it.
• Peers: in cycles where managers pick peers, ask peers for each of your people.
• My team: pick anyone below you to see their reviews per cycle, goals and feedback, and keep a private note about them.
• Feedback for managers only: when you receive feedback "for their managers only" about one of your people, the person doesn't see it.

For everyone

1:1s

1:1s > Set up a 1:1: pick the person, how often (weekly, every 2 weeks, monthly, or no fixed schedule) and the first meeting. Then, for each meeting:

• Agenda. Either of you adds talking points before or during the meeting. Only the person who added a point can remove it; the other can mark it done.
• Shared notes. Both of you can read and edit them. If the other person saved while you were typing, Pairwell tells you and keeps your text in the box, so nothing is overwritten.
• Action items with an owner (either of you) and a due date. Make a work item turns one into a Jira work item in a project you pick. It is created as you, so Jira checks your own permission to create it, and only the action item's text goes in. The agenda and notes stay in Pairwell.
• Carry-over. Talking points that aren't done and open action items move to the next meeting automatically, marked with the date they came from.
• My private note. Each of you keeps a private note on the meeting that only you can read.

Reviews

Reviews lists what you have to write and the reviews about you. Your self review is a draft until you submit it. When your manager shares their review, you read it and press I've read this review (it means you read it, not that you agree). If you are asked for a peer review you can write it or decline with a reason. You can keep a private note on any review you can open.

Feedback

Send praise or a suggestion to anyone on the site, optionally about a Jira work item you can see. Choose who can read it: the person and their managers, or only their managers. Your name is always shown: Pairwell has no anonymous feedback. You can delete feedback you sent; HR admins can delete any.

Goals

Personal goals with a title, what success looks like, a due date, progress (%), a state (active, done, dropped) and up to 20 linked Jira work items. You, your managers and HR admins can read and edit them. Linked work is shown as each viewer sees it in Jira: a work item someone can't browse shows as "1 linked work item you can't see", never its title.

Who opened your records

Home shows who opened your reviews, feedback, goals and 1:1s, and any refused attempts (unless your site turned this off).

Who sees what

Jira admins manage settings and get no access to people's records unless they are HR admins. HR admin rights never apply to records about the HR admin themselves: an HR admin reads their own reviews like anyone else. Other Jira users never see anyone's records.

Privacy FAQ

Can a Jira admin read reviews? No. Settings only. If a Jira admin makes themselves an HR admin, that change is in the audit trail.

Can HR read my 1:1 notes? Only the agenda, shared notes and action items, only if your site turned that on (it is off by default), and every read is logged. Never your private notes.

Who can read my private notes? Only you. Not the other person, not your manager, not HR, not Jira admins. They are never exported and never in a notification.

Is feedback anonymous? No. The sender's name is always shown.

What do the emails say? What is waiting and where to find it (for example "Your review for H2 2026 is ready"). Never the text of a review, feedback or note.

Does Pairwell send anything outside Atlassian? No. See the privacy policy.

Audit trail (HR admins)

HR > Audit trail lists every read of someone else's review, feedback, goals or 1:1, every refused attempt, and every change (reporting lines, settings, cycles, reviews shared, reopened or reassigned). Filter by person, download as CSV. Opening the audit trail is itself logged. Events are kept for 90 to 3,650 days (730 by default, set in Settings) and deleted daily after that.

Notifications

Through Jira's notify email on the notification work item:

• a cycle launched (self review and manager reviews to write), peer review asked;
• a self review submitted (to the manager), a review shared (to the person), a review acknowledged (to the manager), a review reopened or reassigned;
• reminders the set number of days before a due date (at most every two days), and daily once a review is overdue;
• a 1:1 set up with you, and a 1:1 tomorrow (both people);
• feedback sent to you, a goal added for you, being made an HR admin.

If Jira refuses a notification (for example the person can't browse the work item), the audit trail says so.

When the subscription lapses

Everything stays readable. Writing 1:1 notes, reviews, feedback and goals, launching cycles and reminders pause until the subscription is active again.