What is a good (not only design) feedback?
Three simple steps to make your feedback helpful.
I will tell you a story.
One day I got kicked out of my job. My boss called me and said: ‘We don’t have more projects for you. Sorry”. It happened for the first time. I was brave. I didn’t cry at all*
*Maybe a little bit. But later.
I decided to use this “forced on me opportunity” to do something more. I always wanted to be a guy who writes articles about design, is a keynote speaker at conferences and has real Twitter followers, not bots from Asia.
And I wrote my first article on Medium. Firstly, I showed it to my wife, who was sitting right next to me (Anna ❤). Lately, I showed it to one of my colleague from work (let’s call him Miles), and to the other one (let’s call her Zoe). And this is where the real part of this article starts.
The first feedback from Anna:
Absolutely love it. I knew you can do it! Write the next one. Look, I will even make you a dinner, and you just keep writing. You are the best.
The second feedback from Miles:
Hehehe. I like it, dude. Easy to read, straight to the point. It opens eyes for people who think that design is some kind of magic nonsense.
The third feedback from Zoe:
Cool! I like it. I completely agree. The story is really engaging. Well done for that. What I missed was lack of funny and punchy pictures/ images/ illustrations. In the end, you used the word ‘kids’, which suggests you think you are better than us. I felt a little bit insulted :O Anyway, there is a good workshop on this topic. It is about calculating ROI from UX projects. Check out the link http://…
So. What’s next? Can you spot any differences? Actually, are there any? Did you receive any feedback like above? Can you say that any of the above feedback is better than the other? Let’s analyse it.
THE FIRST ONE
This is pure encouragement. The kick in your butt to do more and stop whining. The push from the cliff when you are scared to jump. The slightly worse version of ‘You can do it’ from Ice Cube 😍
Do you need it? Of course. You need this kind of people around you. What they want is only the best for you. When you are down and forget what the long term goal is, this feedback is giving you power as a nuclear reactor in Chernobyl. But without contamination and killing people. These people are not focusing on the bad part. They know you can fix it later. But now, the important part for you is to move on with your life or project. Soo? Sometimes just be that person. Say ‘Well f*cking done Karen. Keep going!’ even though you can see some flaws and the shadows used are not consistent across the whole app. Don’t kill someone’s enthusiasm. Especially if this person is at the beginning of the journey. And when you are a receiver of this feedback? Don’t say ‘Yes Karen, but …’. Just say ‘Thanks, Karen. This means a lot. I will keep hustling’ and be grateful you have such people around you.
THE SECOND ONE
This is what I already know, right? I just wrote it but… using more words 🤓 Damn. Is it good, that I spent the last two hours working on it and Miles just summarised it in two sentences? Am I stupid or what? What I still don’t know after this feedback is if I can post this bloody article on Medium or work more. Still, it is more structured than the first one, more focused on the merit, more about the content rather than about the person but can you say it is better?🤔 Sometimes. For sure.
THE THIRD ONE
For me, the winner 🏆Why? There is a very simple structure there: What I like + What I don’t like + Similar stuff I know, that might be interesting for you. Is it a winning formula for a feedback? For me, personally, f*ck yeah it is. What else do you need? Be kind and say something good about stuff you are looking at. Someone spent an hour/ a day/ a month working on it, so surely, there needs to be something good about it. But be fair. Say what is missing or what you don’t understand. And if you know something similar that might be beneficial for the creator, just share it with him. Help him to be better. This feedback is basically saying to me:
Hey, I like what you are doing. I was thinking the same but you said it aloud. What I don’t like is this and that. Ohh, and I missed this. And hey, BTW I was reading this and that, so here are links. Take a look, dig deeper and just become better in what you are doing. Great job dude.
Summary
Be the first or the third person when giving feedback. If you are the first, they will love you forever. If you are the third, everyone knows you could easily be the fourth and stand out of the podium. And they will love you even more. But no one remembers the second person. Don’t be the second person. Never.
