5 Ways to Give Better Feedback
Aug 16, 2008 – Cody Hoppis
Wouldn’t it be great if everything just worked out the first time? Unfortunately, the complexities of most creative projects require a few rounds of revisions to achieve a successful outcome. Giving effective feedback to your creative team empowers you to prevent your project from exceeding its cost and time constraints.
Here are five things that you can do to improve your feedback.
- Document everything. Directions given during a phone conversation are first to fall through the cracks in a crowded schedule. Put all of your feedback in writing, and in a consistent thread of communication.
- Be timely. Responding promptly to your creative team ensures that they will need less time to recall important details about the project.
- Make specific comments. Try to avoid generalized statements such as “I don’t like this.” Instead, focus on quantifiable details like color choices, spacing and font selection.
- Point out the good and the bad. Providing only one side of your reaction to a concept still leaves a lot of options to explore. Knowing what works and what doesn’t will help your creative team zero in on your vision for the project.
- Establish priorities. Every change has a cost, so weigh the price of making a modification with the value that it brings to the project. Ranking your changes according to value will make sure that the most important aspects of the project receive the most attention.
