Well said. What needs to be considered also is that a manager may have different types of negative feedback. He may have major issues, which would be strange to hold on to until the annual review. However, there may also be a bunch of smaller pieces of criticism, which will fall under a particular threshold and will be held back, either entirely, or until an opportunity for a review arises. That opportunity may be a long ways away.

The trick is having constant feedback. Weekly, bi-weekly, or even monthly review-like events allow both the employer and employee to share wins and discuss areas of friction. Having lots of such mini-reviews allows for quicker resolution and prevents things from boiling up.

Fantastic managers do this intuitively and do not need instruction or tools for it.