I’m sitting in this “how to give and get feedback” class.
Within the first 5 minutes, the instructor, after talking about positive feedback says, “Negative feedback is more personal, it’s more about the person themselves.”
What?
So if I go “this piece of your work is good” that’s about your work, but if I say “this piece of your work is bad” that’s about you? Really?
Let me be really blunt here: if this is how you interpret these statements YOU ARE STUPID (that is intended to be personal).
Was that negative enough for ya?
If I say “This patch is a big honking piece of shit.” it means… you made a bad fucking patch. Smart people make bad patches too. It’s not a reflection of your intelligence, so get over yourself. If I wanted to say, “man, all your patches are all horrible, you must be retarded,” then I could say something like that.
Most. Ridiculous. Assumption. Ever.
Edit: (Left meeting, published post, coming back this evening to finish): This holds true for more than technical arguments. Saying “that was a retarded decision” does not imply, in any way, that your are retarded. Smart people make bad choices, and such a statement simply informs you my opinion of a particular decision is that it was very bad. That’s it. Stop taking things personally people. Period.
no comments