On Feedback

Giving Feedback

Feedback is part of the iterative nature of any software project. That being said, there are constructive and destructive ways to give feedback. Here are our recommendations for getting the best work out of your software team:

• Ask questions. If you take nothing else away, take this. Much feedback can be posed in the form of questions: asking what led to the decision that is making you uncomfortable. Give the creator a chance to explain the decision and you might come to like it. Even if you don’t, you have information for discussion.
• Be specific about your criticism. “This doesn’t work,” is not actionable, but “clicking the help icon doesn’t open the menu” leads right to the problem.
• Don’t try to do your subcontractor’s job. You might have some experience in software or design, but don’t micromanage the project. State objectives and goals for the project, and let your subcontractor offer creative ways to achieve them. That’s why you hired them, right?
• State objectives, not solutions. Once you start micromanaging a project by dictating every detail, you have turned your intelligent, experienced, creative team into order takers. You’ll pay the same price, but get a fraction of the value.
• Don’t confuse the subjective (how you feel) with the objective (what is true). Statements like “this is ugly,” or “that’s the wrong way to build a menu,” sound as if they are cold hard facts, but they are reflections of your own emotions and judgments. Make their subjective nature clear by starting those sentences with “I think…” Be prepared to follow up with exactly why you feel that way.
• Be measured in your emotions. Avoid using words that convey intense displeasure like “hate.” That kind of language puts the creator on the defensive, and makes it hard to receive the criticism constructively.
• Don’t overdo it. Regardless of how you offer your feedback, if you pile it on, it’s going to overwhelm the creator. Instead, take the time for a thoughtful review, then choose the feedback you think will be most useful.
• Bookend your negative criticism. If you want to soften the blow of negative feedback, start with something positive. Then list the most critical problems with the project. End the session with encouragement.

Professionals want your feedback and need it for the project to succeed. They won’t take your comments personally unless you make them personal.

Receiving Feedback

In a perfect world, every client would be experienced in offering effective, constructive feedback in a positive manner. However, as much as we wish this were the case, you simply can’t rely on it. Here are some ideas if you are new to working with clients.

Preparing Yourself

Seasoned professionals have learned to distance themselves from their work. Criticism of the work is necessary for success and has no relation to the value of the creator as a person. Keep in mind:

1. Just because you received criticism doesn’t mean you’re wrong. You did the best you could with the information that you had. If you are a professional, of course you did. No matter what your critic says, it’s only one person’s opinion. There’s rarely a truly right way to do something, especially in a creative endeavor. If you have a client making a criticism, don’t take it personally. Listen for the underlying goal and figure out how to satisfy that.
2. Know that you might have negative emotions. Feeling defensive when someone criticizes your work is normal, even when no malice is intended. If you’re prepared for that response, you can take a deep breath, compose yourself, and ask the questions necessary to find out what the client is really asking for.
3. Be comfortable setting boundaries. You might run into someone who’s aggressive, condescending, rude, or any number of other kinds of inappropriate, when giving you feedback. You can always decide you no longer want their feedback and tell them the meeting is not constructive. Reschedule the critique for another time or with an different person.

Asking for Feedback

How you ask for feedback can go a long way to ensuring you get what you need.

1. Be specific about what needs feedback. Without guidelines, people will tend to critique every thing they can. They are trying to be helpful! When you ask, make it clear what you need to hear about. For example, design work rarely needs to have its text reviewed, and a wireframe’s spelling isn’t relevant to the structure. It could help to make a form stating on what and how you’d like to receive feedback.
2. Explain your goals. When you give someone something to look at, explain the goal and target audience of the piece. Feedback appropriate for a nursing home blog would be rather out of place in a political website aimed at young people, for example.
3. Let them know when you need it, but give them time. You don’t want to end up in limbo, waiting for feedback that may never come. Let your client know when you need to hear back. However, make sure that you give them enough time to be thorough; a rushed critiques usually results in another round of revisions.

Responding to Criticism

Once you’ve received feedback, you’ll want to be sure that you’ve understood it and can make use of it.

1. Ask questions. Make sure you really understand the critique you’re receiving. One trick is to paraphrase the critique back, something like “So, I’m hearing that…” If your client agrees, then you’ve got it. If not, repeat the process until it makes sense to you.
2. Offer explanations. If you think that a criticism is off the mark, explain why you made the decision. If that doesn’t change the client’s mind, ask how it could be more clear.
3. Propose some changes. Once you’ve got a handle on the feedback, you might have some ideas on how to make changes. If the client is amenable, see what they think of the ideas.
4. Say thanks. Regardless of the quality of the critique, giving feedback is hard work. Assuming your client wasn’t intentionally malicious, say thanks. It’s just polite.

A strong client–contractor relationship is based on communication and respect. If you both assume the other has good intentions and ultimately wants a successful product, you will have few problems.

Thanks to Sean Massa for helping with this post.