1.0 BELIEF
Open up your work in progress
We’ve all had that one stakeholder who, no matter how many caveats you put on your draft, gives you feedback as if you’ve been working on your project for 200 days instead of 6. Don’t let them stop you from getting the feedback you need and doing it early and often. We’ve got your back.
THE PRINCIPAL BELIEFS
After-the-fact advice sucks.
“Oops, I forgot to mention this place is cash-only.” “Wait, why did you build it this way?” “(Mouth full) are there waw-nuts in deez brown-eez? Nuts give mee hiiives.”
First, if no one has told you yet, chewing with your mouth open, nut allergy or not, should be avoided in all polite situations.
Second, while it may have been helpful when you were initially exploring solutions, well-intentioned feedback coming in hours before you complete a project can feel like you’re being set up for failure.
Rest assured, no one is trying to sabotage your work (just like no one wants to see half-chewed food in your mouth). Discovering, diving into and giving feedback on work-in-progress is challenging for stakeholders. But we’ve found that open-by-default systems and sharing work early for feedback goes a long way.
From
siloed documents, links and attachments
To
discoverable info in the context of your project
From
only present final draft
To
share as you go
From
giving feedback on work without context
To
fast, productive feedback loops aligned with project fidelity
Make your work discoverable
Stop repeating yourself
Instead of responding to multiple requests for updates, put updates in a place stakeholders will go to first
Reduce uncertainty
Let stakeholders know they can rely on you updating them on a regular cadence
Avoid duplication
Keep related teams up-to-date so if work intersects, no one is surprised
Cancel perfection culture
Normalize sharing work early to encourage others to do the same
Related research
1.0 Ritual - Open up your work in progress
Make your updates followable
Most people know more about what’s trending on social media than they do the projects happening on their shared teams.
If we share project updates as easily as we share life updates to our network, we can open our work to get input from the right experts at the right time.
While frequent feedback can feel overwhelming, research shows that teams who receive feedback regularly are more engaged in their work.
To reap the benefits, design your project workspaces and rituals to enable non-team members to give quick, phase-appropriate feedback. Bring your work to them by creating a mechanism for them to subscribe to your salient updates without getting lost in the details.
PRACTICE with your team
1.1 technique – Open your wip
Create reference-able handles
Your project needs an identity. We’re spending too much time answering clarifying questions and not enough time exploring ideas together. Adopting a company-wide naming structure (think Dewey Decimal system for all those over 25) helps teams-of-teams navigate, discover and discuss pertinent project across functions far and wide. For example: ATLAS- 1, ATLAS-2, ATLAS-3
1.2 technique – Open your wip
Open up comments & questions (avoid 1:1 messages)
Feedback inspires ideas. The more open your feedback is, the more useful it will be. For example copy suggestions made on an open doc may help a designer think differently on how to build a webpage (and vice versa!).
1.3 technique – Open your wip
Distribute updates in channels where teams live
Don’t force designers to use tools for financial planning (or vice versa!). It’s easier to get in the flow when we use tools that support our work style and function. Context switching takes brain power, so making your updates consumable is important. Bring them to the tools they’re working in, whether it’s Slack, email, Jira, or Asana.
Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.
Dr. Brene Brown
NY Times bestselling author
Explore all the Loop techniques
1.0 Open up your work in progress
1.1 Create reference-able handles
1.2 Open up comments & questions (avoid 1:1 messages)
1.3 Distribute updates in channels where teams live
2.0 Curate, don't automate
2.1 Character constrain your updates
2.2 Update async, spar in real time
2.3 Balance qualitative + quantitative
3.0 Common vocabulary over common tooling
3.1 Define your project’s what, why & how
3.2 Agree on “what is a project” and phases
3.3 Define your status markers (On Track (green), At Risk (yellow), Off Track (red))
4.0 Show that you are paying attention
4.1 Level your feedback in line with phase/fidelity
4.2 Create a read receipts mechanism
4.3 Follow relevant projects & celebrate wins together