Feedback

Most feedback is bad. It is bad in predictable ways, and the predictability is useful — once you can name the failure modes, you can route around them.

Asking

When you ask for feedback, ask for the kind you want. What’s confusing? gets one answer; what should I add? gets another; would you ship this? gets a third. The blanket request — “let me know what you think” — produces the worst feedback because the responder defaults to whatever they happened to notice first.

Ask early enough that the work is changeable. Asking after the cement has set is asking for compliments.

Giving

When giving feedback, lead with what’s working. This is not flattery; it’s calibration. The maker needs to know which parts to defend before they hear which parts to revise. Without that, every comment is interpreted as a possible demolition order.

Then point to the specific weak place, and offer one direction — not the answer. “I lost the thread here” is better than “you should write it differently”. The first locates the problem; the second imposes a fix.

Ignoring

You will hear, at some point, that you should listen to all your readers. You shouldn’t. Most readers don’t know what they want; they know what they don’t want. That negative information is real, and useful, but it isn’t a positive instruction. Treat feedback as data, not as orders. The work belongs to the maker; the responsibility for it does too.