How to give feedback is an often neglected topic in running teams. In fact, it's usually not covered unless there's someone outrageously bad at it.

And all too often, it's not covered even when someone is outrageously bad at it.

Examples of outrageously bad feedback I've witnessed:

The exec who looked over a designer's shoulder and said, "Yeah, whatever you're doing there needs to change."

The art director whose feedback for one of the artists on his team was: "That looks like my dog shit it out."

Then there's the completely unhelpful feedback. This video from Adobe is amazing, hilarious, sad and honest all at the same time, and it applies to design as much as it applies to art.

I've been in both seats: receiving bad feedback and giving bad feedback. I'm perpetually in a state of recovering from being a person who gave bad feedback. It's not a switch you flip--you don't understand it then you're fixed. Giving good feedback requires intent and focus.

It's easy to find the ten things you dislike about the work and spit those out. It's also easy to not think about how you express those dislikes. Those thoughts are like raw flour. It takes intent and focus to make that raw flour into something edible.

Keep in mind that your true goal isn't just to "fix" the work. It's to help the person learn and not make the same mistakes again. That means you need to deliver your feedback in a way that makes the artist not just understand, but come away motivated and excited to move forward.

The "complement sandwich" sounds absurd but it really is a great way of framing your feedback even if you end up delivering it differently. The goal is to start and end with something you like about the work. That forces you to really think about the work more deeply.

An often overlooked method of critique is opening with questions. Why did you choose that color? What was your goal with having a side nav instead of a top nav?

Ask and really listen. Let it influence your feedback. At the least, the person feels heard and understood.

If you're in a position of power, especially if you're up the ladder a few rungs, make it super clear when you're giving different types of feedback. Are you saying that as a user, as the lead, as someone who knows what the rest of the company is doing?

Also if you're in a position of power, make it very clear when something is simply feedback (i.e. it can be ignored if the person thinks another approach would be better) versus when you're mandating a change. People don't automatically know the difference (and why should they).

Finally, keep a growth mindset. Give people room to prove their theories, to learn and grow. If you have feedback they strongly disagree with, try to user test it. You may find out you're wrong, or the person may understand why they are wrong. Either way, everyone learns.

Giving better feedback is something everyone can learn. It's on my schedule in March to build a feedback guide for everyone in my org. It will include how to give negative feedback, because being honest is important too.

I encourage creative leads, especially studio design directors, to also create feedback guides for everyone at their studio. Poor feedback culture is often at the root of employee unhappiness at game studios. It makes people feel unappreciated. We can do better!

Great reminder in a reply for something I forgot! Focus on the problem, and let the person work out the solution. Some of the worst pseudo-useful feedback comes from comments like "Just move that over to the left" rather than "I don't think users will notice that element."