Providing bad feedback is too easy. Let’s discuss some better ways (and why).
When we’re busy and we’re not thinking, we might leave half of the conversation in our head when we ask something of someone. That can create anxiety, confusion, or anger.
Email it to me as a summary and schedule a follow-up call to discuss in more detail. I prefer to have a written record of feedback for referral at a later date, and I find that it helps me to process the information more effectively. I’m also happy to have a conversation about feedback, but I prefer to have it in writing first so I can prepare for the discussion.
- One to one: schedule a video call these days.
- Cold, hard cash.
- Pull requests on GitHub.
- Email.
- Scheduled phone call, or at least a quick heads-up first. Never… call unannounced.
- Never preceded by an email inviting me for
a chat
ora word
(even if they are words of praise - think about anxiety levels, folks). - Never feed back directly to somebody above me without involving me at all.
- Unscheduled phone call. Never call unannounced.