When interviewing or reviewing your own performance, it's good to have a framework that will pull the important parts of your experience to the surface. You want to show how you behave in certain circumstances, and what the results of those behaviors are.

STAR turns experiences into clear, memorable stories of impact.

The STAR method is one way to turn an experience into a story that will give the details your interviewer or manager needs.

S — Situation

Set the scene and give the necessary details of your example.

T — Task

Describe your scope and responsibility in that situation.

A — Action

Explain in detail what steps you took to address the situation.

R — Result

Share what outcomes your actions achieved.

Why use STAR?

The STAR method works because it keeps your story focused. Instead of drifting into vague descriptions or listing tasks, you clearly connect context → responsibility → action → outcome.

For interviews, it highlights your skills and behaviors in real scenarios, showing how you solve problems and create impact.

For performance reviews, it helps you reflect on what mattered most and communicate your growth in a structured, measurable way.

In short: STAR keeps your stories concrete, memorable, and easy for others to follow.

Example: Leading a Design Sprint

Situation: Our team at Dropbox was facing declining activation metrics, and leadership asked us to generate bold new ideas.
Task: As design lead, I needed to guide the team toward a high-impact concept within two weeks.
Action: I set up a modified Google Ventures Design Sprint, aligned PM and engineering partners, and facilitated sessions to define problems, sketch solutions, and test prototypes with real users.
Result: We uncovered that clarity during onboarding was the biggest driver of drop-off. The team produced a validated prototype that, once shipped, improved activation by 12%.