Give feedback now, directly
DocPlanner culture is firmly based on two pillars: results and feedback. This combination allowed us to achieve international success, continuously develop, and build a friendly atmosphere inside the company. People simply like each other :) Trust is essential in building valuable relationships in both private and professional life. This trust is born between people when they are honest with each other, openly say what they like about themselves, and explain what can sometimes irritate them and make their cooperation difficult.
Why feedback?
Have you ever wondered what others think about you? Or does your boss think that you are doing a good job? Or maybe there is something you can improve in the project to achieve KPIs?
The answer to these questions is: feedback. It supports the functioning of the entire company, our business or team, and each of us.
Thanks to feedback, we can improve not only the projects we are working on but also our behavior towards other team members. Getting to know a different point of view (thanks to the feedback we receive), we have the opportunity to see and understand more and thus grow. It is also the opportunity to see yourself through the eyes of others and to broaden your self-awareness — get to know your strengths and weaknesses and reduce uncertainty about what others think about us. Valuable feedback simply motivates us to act, giving the feeling of being relevant to others.
Feedback is also a way to resolve conflicts and embrace difficult topics. It is an opportunity for constructive conversation, thanks to which potential problems have a chance to see the light of day before they become a “skeleton in the closet.” In the context of a team, feedback also serves to strengthen good cooperation practices (e.g., by praising the group on the forum), but also to correct the undesirable ones. It is the fundamental way to learn and collect experiences.
In the context of the company, feedback allows you to modify or freeze projects that do not bring the expected results, and there is no fear that someone will feel offended. At DocPlanner, we often “challenge” our ideas so that the results would be even better than we assumed at the beginning. It does not mean that all and always the comments are implemented immediately, but at least the owner of the project considers them. The fact that people are not afraid to express their opinion has allowed us many times to implement improvements to the product, changed the way the team works or created new teams in our company.
Is feedback something natural to us?
Yes and no :) Over the years, we have grown from a small company to a company present on 4 continents and employing over 1000 people. The pace of growth was incredible, so we had to find ways not to lose this element so vital for us. To ensure that we have implemented various tools in the company, including:
- officevibe — shows what satisfaction is in the company at the moment (and was in recent months). It is an alternative to engagement research that is usually done once or twice a year. It is also a platform where each of us can express our opinion or start a discussion on a given topic;
- training in the field of giving and receiving feedback — we encourage each new team member to participate in it. Of course, after the training, we collect feedback :) to know what we can improve when it comes to the program or the way the workshops are run;
- Feedback Tool — a tool in which we can give (or ask others for) feedback twice a year. It is open for two specific weeks, and at the end of the action, each of us receives a report full of feedback from others. The action has the perverse name “I’m Back, and I’m hungry. Please Feed Back.”
Feedback in the DocPlanner Tech team
1:1 meetings — team leader and developer often do not work in the same team. In order to be up to date, they meet regularly at 1:1s. The frequency of such meetings is determined jointly. It is also an opportunity to give each other current feedback, talk about the challenges, or simply build relations between colleagues. Moreover, since each team leader is a programmer, they can also act as mentors in technological matters.
Code reviews — we perform them for each line to be included in the production code. While checking Pull Requests, developers can give feedback on code quality, impact on other functionalities, and compliance with business objectives. Checking and settling uncertainties can take place both through a dedicated website or live. Without applying the corrections indicated by the reviewers and accepting the Pull Request, the inclusion of the code contained in it to the main repository is blocked.
Killing Circle — it is a great technique that allows us to give each other feedback in a group of people in a short time. Just sit together at the table, sign the card with your name and give it to the person sitting on the right. The cards make the full circle and come back to their owners. Along the way, they pass the hands of each member of the group who can write both positive and constructive feedback on the piece. As more people see the feedback written by their predecessors, they can confirm, deny, or refer to it. This tool is one of the versions of the Feedback Tool.
Pair Programming — it is not only a programming technique in itself but also a way to immediately receive feedback to the solutions proposed by yourself. Having a difficult task ahead of them, wanting to introduce a colleague into a project, or simply help someone, two programmers sit down together and develop the code together. Only one computer is used for programming. The programmer who writes the code creates it based on the friend’s constant suggestions, while also checking the correctness of the thinking process or suggesting his ideas. Cyclical changes in roles between “writers” and “dictators” reduce the risk of overworking or resignation. The code created in this process is usually much better thought out and has better quality than the code written alone.
Team Retrospections — if 1:1 meetings are excellent opportunities to give each other honest feedback, the whole group’s retrospection is an invaluable tool to help keep in mind the sense of the project and the relationship between its members. Depending on the methodology used, one can carry out retrospection in hundreds of different ways, but the simplest method is the three columns method — “I liked,” “I did not like,” “actions.” For the retrospections to work, they need to be run regularly (for example, after each sprint).
For our tools to function well, we try to convey 4 principles in which we strongly believe, and which relate to feedback.
1. Ask for Feedback
Our brain is structured in such a way that in the majority of situations, emotions first come to the fore, and only then the logic. Both on the part of the person who gives feedback and receives it, there may be doubt (am I right?), fear of being hurt, or just anger. It is only after a while that this logical part of our brain activates, which reminds us of all the advantages of giving and receiving feedback. Therefore, we believe that in order to minimize the first emotions, it is worth to ask for feedback. The message that we send out is clear: “I am ready to hear what you have to say to me. This is a good moment. I’m listening.”
2. Be yourself but listen
Each of us is different. This statement is trivial and accurate to the same extent. We have different styles of communication and different sensitivity. The better we know someone, the easier it is to predict how they will accept feedback. It is much easier to provide feedback about specific job results, and it is harder to talk about behavior. The deeper the feedback (concerning talents, weaknesses), the more poignant. Therefore, when giving feedback, it is worth being open to the signals coming from the other person. Sometimes you have to say something stronger, sometimes gentler. Sometimes, show more examples of specific situations, sometimes focus more on avoiding a similar situation in the future. This can be eased by openness to the other persons and listening to their messages, both verbal and non-verbal.
3. Use the FEED
Do you know the “sandwich” as one of the methods of giving feedback? Forget about it :) In DocPlanner we use FEED (facts, effects, emotions, development), thanks to which we can touch upon different aspects of a given situation and reach every type of personality. In addition, we always focus on areas that a person is doing great and should Continue on doing. We also give feedback about what we would like the person to Start/Stop doing. That’s how we built our Feedback Tool.
4. Feedback is not just criticism
On the one hand, we love to get praise, on the other, we forget to give it to others. On the one hand, we do not like someone criticizing us, but on the other hand, we do it quite often. At DocPlanner, we believe that praising motivates, builds relationships, and makes us want to do more. That is why in our Feedback Tool, there is a separate section for giving praise. There is also a special #kudos channel in the company where we can thank for organizing the presentation, help in moving a heavy box, or killing a dangerous bug.
Finally, a few words about receiving feedback. This is a less-brought, but still a very important topic. As I mentioned above, the process of giving and receiving feedback is related to various emotions. That is why it is worth thinking about feedback as a gift. Why? Because we give gifts to the people, we care about and who are important to us. We spend time to make this gift as much suited to the receiver as possible. We want it to be useable, and the recipients should take from it what is most important to them. So, the next time you receive feedback, take a deep breath… and say ‘Thank you’ :) And then choose what’s important for you and work on it. Good luck!
