Giving Good Professional Feedback
One thing universities aren’t teaching in game development degree programs is how to give and take professional feedback. This is necessary in order to align visions, mitigate resentment, and improve skills and output. When teaching my interactive narrative course at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, I did an exercise with the students about this. I’m sharing that content here in the hopes that it helps game developers (and who knows, maybe it applies to other industries!)
What I developed is something called COAST Feedback.
C stands for Compassionate. You don’t have to blow smoke up someone’s ass and tell them their work is great when it isn’t, but it’s also very unhelpful when feedback is unnecessarily harsh or mean-spirited. Considering how your comments might be received before you make them might save a world of hurt. It costs you nothing to be kind and direct.
O stands for Objective. Think about your own biases, because that will be important in helping to contextualize your comments. For example, I might be asked to give feedback on a build that’s targeted to a much different demographic than 52yo women, so if I don’t like the art, it helps to actually acknowledge that I am not the target audience for this thing, but here is my opinion. Also, think about whether your comments are subjective or objective. Can I look at this picture and objectively say that the color palette does not match the mood we are trying to create, or, am I going to subjectively talk about “how this picture makes ME feel?” It’s a subtle difference, but it’s important to consider (especially when you’re in a creative field judging creative output).
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A stands for Actionable. Saying “this really isn’t what I had in mind” does not give the other person a specific thing to change. Be sure that the comments you offer are clear about what they should fix, and focus on documented parameters when explaining why something falls short, or how it should change. “Make (this thing) (more or less)(this way) because (reason) and (the change will have THIS effect).” Non-actionable: “Your art style is outdated.” Actionable: “We were aiming for a more anime style consistent with Miyazaki movies because of their soft, painting-like backgrounds and simplified characters. This to us evokes more Tex Avery, cartoon style. Here are some references that might help. Thanks!” In the second example, one can see exactly what the issue is and what needs to happen in order to fix it.
S stands for Specific. It’s fine to offer some general notes if there’s an issue that pops up multiple times within a work, but explain that it’s a more general and overall note. It’s especially helpful to be specific with your notes and point to distinct examples in the work that need to be changed. Rather than “Work on tense,” for example, say “the verb tense appears to change from 1st person on page 13 to 3rd person on page 27. We need this to be all 3rd person. Thanks!” The first comment tells you what the general issue is, but not in a clear way. The second comment explains what the actual issue is, and how it needs to change.
T stands for Truthful. Don’t say something is excellent if it’s not. I’ve had the experience of someone saying that a piece of work was “amazing” or “awesome” only to then later be unpleasantly surprised by another person on the team who says the first person actually did see some issues with the work. Give your peers the respect of being honest. Again, being honest does not automatically mean being unkind — honesty without tact is cruelty. If it’s good…say so. If it’s not…say so, but in a kind, and constructive way that is specific and provided with any important context. Also, remember that finding reasons to give good feedback is important and that no list of comments should be solely negative. That demotivates people. Make sure also to call out what you like. If you can’t call out anything you like about the work, then comment on the dedication the person has shown, their responsiveness, or some other aspect of working with them that you recognize is positive.
Keeping these five points in mind will definitely put you on the road to being able to give more helpful feedback in a professional setting.
