Remote-First Institute
2 years ago

Asynchronous feedback can be tricky to get right. What have you found to be helpful when giving or receiving asynchronous feedback?

Maaria Tiensivu
2 years ago

E.g. in design feedback or fedback on concepts, Loom works super well. Running through your thought process while showing what you mean can be very powerful.

Kekke Hyvämäki
2 years ago

Loom is great for that. I think that in a remote setting, it's super important to give feedback often, and it's one way to build trust in remote teams.


One interesting concept is feedforward, which could work fine in an asynchronous environment.

Remote-First Institute
2 years ago

Love this @(Loading...). Could you elaborate a bit more on the feedforward concept? How might it work in practice if someone wants to give it a go?

Leon van der Laan
2 years ago

Loom works well indeed. The rules of feedback haven't changed though.

- Focus on own observations not second-hand information

- Focus on behavior, while affirming acceptance and respect to the person self.

- Explain why that behavior gets praise / or needs to change

- Provide the new behavior expectation ( in case it's not praise )

- Ask to get a confirmation from the person that the video was clear, and understood.

- Require an answer back by video, or propose a time where you can jump on a call to discuss live


Dont's

- go in discussion over chat

- go in a back and forth loom war to discuss the topic

- give too much and too often feedback on too small items, ( disguised micro-management)



Radina Walsh
2 years ago

Couldn't have said it better @(Loading...) - open, honest and empathetic are the 3 words that come in mind, especially when it comes to async feedback. Using neutral language, giving clear examples and setting expectations are key

Tess Dixon
1 year ago

Little pieces of regular feedback (via doc comments, messages, etc.) should help people get used to receiving a steady flow of feedback and tweaking their practices accordingly, rather than waiting for 1:1s or reviews. Feedback is less fraught when it's just a part of daily life. The clear examples mentioned above are crucial too.


If it's something sensitive or really big, I do try to do it face-to-face in a 1:1 on Zoom. It needs to be followed up by a written confirmation of what you talked about, so that both parties can confirm that they came away with the same understanding. I typically put those confirmation in our shared notes doc for our 1:1s. If the person doesn't report to me though, it could be an email (or whatever tool you use as an official "record" at your workplace).

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