When can you say “bad”? And when not to

November 6, 2023

I believed for a long time in the existence of universal feedback and used the “3 pluses” system. It consists of the whole team answering 3 questions. Here they are:

• What did we do well?
• What can be done better?
• What should you add next time?

I was taught this at the age of 15 in a debate club, and along with this I accepted another rule as a constant, that saying “badly” is bad. Because such feedback is ineffective and does not develop the work, but only stops it. But… hurray! It’s so cool that I’m no longer 15. And the world has turned out to be more complicated. In fact, it is both possible and impossible to say “bad”.

You can’t say “bad”

• As feedback to the younger one. It’s simply ineffective. This kind of feedback will make you an aggressor with an intimidated team. Relationships within any team begin with the “senior,” and in my opinion, this is the person who is most interested in developing the team and maintaining enthusiasm. This means he cannot simply brush it off and insult his colleagues. His responsibility as a leader is to say specifically: what can be done better? Step by step.
• If your opinion is decisive. Since it is decisive, that means you set the task. So if the team did a “bad” job, chances are you did a “bad” job. Cuckoo, my friend!
  
  Here instead of “bad” you need. Return to the beginning. Check the problem statement. Get the team to understand it. Set expectations for the results. Negotiate.
• As a stepping stone to continue working. Any assessment - “bad”, “good”, “beautiful”, “clear”, “stupid” - does not provide any specifics. After the assessment, it is not clear what they are asking you to do. Instead of assessments, it is more useful to use arguments, facts, advice - they give specifics and help argue about the matter.
  
  And most importantly: assessment affects the person. If a designer has made a “bad” layout, it may seem like the designer is bad. Specifics do not influence a person; they objectively show how to do things better.
  
  Here, instead of: “The layout is stupid and the font is not right,” you need to formulate separate steps. They need to be thought through and described in such a way that after they are completed, the layout actually changes. For example: “The bulleted list is laid out without indentations. Accidentality is not suitable for us, we need grotesque.”

It’s okay to say “bad”

• If your “bad” doesn’t affect anything. You have no authority - people have no incentive to listen to you. You just want to speak out and you just can’t stand it. For example, you, as a designer, react to the work of programmers. Why do you need this? It’s not clear. Even more so for them. Well, let it be. That’s the kind of person you are.
• If you don’t understand “What then?” This means that your sensations, feelings, intuition worked faster. The brain has not yet had time to formalize these abstractions or cannot do so at all. In certain infrequent circumstances, it is acceptable to say, “That’s not it.” But I don’t understand why.” With this formulation, you have given the team a dose of uncertainty, so it is important to either come back with a formalization of this abstraction: “Oh! I realized that it was wrong! Firstly…“. Or use the cancellation card: “I still don’t understand, let’s continue.”
• If your boundaries have already been violated. React to situations that happen to you. When a person violates your sacred values, do not start a song:
  - Oh, please share how it would be more environmentally friendly and comfortable for you to do so that we can reach a consensus and, without hurting your feelings, I can agree with you so that you are no longer late?

  Your boundaries have already been crossed, this needs to be indicated. It would be more useful for the relationship to say:
  — I don’t like that you’re late. This doesn’t suit me.

  And life will become calmer, and people will be more loved.

This article is not about the rainbow world, where all, without exception, are well-designed and eco-friendly bunnies. Just because we are not all like that, it is very important to rely on specificity and honesty in your work. I believe that this is the secret of fruitful team work.