What If?
Yesterday, I was participating in a feedback discussion with the product team. We have launched the beta aka MVP. We have started getting the user feedbacks and started discussing internally to improve the product.
Most of the time, team mates jump on to the design feedback. Yeah, it’s obvious. The design is always ambiguous.
“there are no facts, only interpretations.” Friedrich Nietzsche
I always appreciate the honest feedback about my work. Yea, it took a long time to reach this stage. :) It helps me to improve consistently. As a designer, in early days of my career, I had the habit of being defensive about my works. But when I realized that designs are not just beautiful shapes and colors, It’s solving a problem and ‘design’ is a ‘medium’ for that, I stopped being an aggressive defender. But I like to get constructive feedback.
Many times, I came out from meeting rooms with my head down. Lost energy. Tired. But I always tell my self. One of your idea failed. You haven’t failed. Get another one or more, which will be awesome than the old one.
Any one can sit on the couch in an AC room and say “That sucks”. But when you ask “what you suggest”. That “any one” says “I dunno”. That’s not the right way of giving the feedback. The real problem solvers come up with the facts and suggestions which can support their point.
People like to overstep the boundaries. Don’t generalize the point. Be specific. Specificity is always a good thing. It helps to get into the roots.
Step back for a while and try to understand their perspective before you start. When we work on a product as a team, we should have the quality to give constructive feedback.
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There are so many methods for giving constructive feedback. I personally like ‘IL/IW/WI’.
I Like, I wish, What if
Stanford D. school introduced, “I like, I wish, What if” (IL/IW/WI). A simple tool to encourage open feedback.
Here is a simple example
“I like the crisp content in home page
I wish we would have more vibrant colors like orange or yellow.
What if we can have an awesome interactive onboarding graph like ZYX”
It’s kind of Sandwich. Wrapped up with positivity. No abstractions or distractions. Specific and communicating what’s the point.
Listen to the feedback; we don’t need to respond at that moment. Use our judgment as a product team/ expert to decide if we want to discuss certain topics that arise. Give more preference to the real world user’s feedback than team’s assumption. Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.
Sometimes, you need to trust your guts. Experimenting new things and failing fast are an integral part of innovation.
Take away for designers (Creative problem Solvers):
Don’t take it personally.
Have an open mind.
Be a good listener
Ask WHY?
See things from their perspective.
Push your boundaries and bounce back with better solutions.
Be grateful. Say thank you for the feedback
