Feedback is a gift. Feedback has a vital role in product development. Not only it can nurture the product, but it also could nurture the people who build the product. Yet as we’re all know, giving good constructive feedback is damn hard.

The framework

Analyze, Discuss, and Suggest

This framework helps me navigate when I’m reviewing works. I’ll explain a little bit of each point and guiding principles on each. Let’s dig into it.

Analyze

The first thing you’ll need to do is to listen and analyze the work. Does anything stand out from work presented, which can be both good things and bad things?

A few things to keep in mind:

• First thing first, the intent of the feedback should always be helpful and not be offensive nor destructive. Be respectful to the team presenting. Sure, you can analyze everything, but if the presenter asks for specific feedback, you should respect that and make that as a priority. Also, be sincere, it’s not quite useful to give any insincere compliment (like sandwich method) and focus on what matters.
• If you spot something that doesn’t feel right, pay attention to that and try to complete the blank of this statement: “I’m not sure about X because…”

A few questions that you should try to answer while analyzing:

• What is the goal of this project?
• What human problem is this trying to solve?
• How close is this design achieve the goal?
• How do I feel about this in general?

Discuss

Now it’s the time to discuss what you’ve analyzed. Whenever possible, try to spark the conversation around the room rather than giving a statement.