My first salary review cycle opens in January. What should I be doing now?

Work backwards from the opening date. Weeks one to three: clean the employee data, because job titles, levels and managers will be wrong for about one record in ten. Weeks four to six: agree the budget and a simple merit matrix, performance by position in range, with finance. Weeks seven and eight: a two-page manager guide and one 45-minute briefing. Last two weeks: test the spreadsheet with a friendly manager.

Keep 10 to 15 per cent of the budget back for adjustments you only discover once recommendations come in.

Ask the finance lead what went wrong last year. In my first cycle at a 300-person company, the answer was that promotions were paid for out of the merit pot and nobody had said so. One conversation saved me from repeating it.

Small thing that matters: decide now who approves exceptions and write it down. If it is unclear in January, every exception will come to you.

This is exactly what I needed. I have dropped the rebuild, booked the data clean-up for next week, and the finance lead confirmed the promotions problem almost word for word. Holding back 12 per cent of the pot.