During the past few weeks, we've had performance reviews at Klarna. One positive thing I have done that keeps coming up is that I've found a way to make feedback on processes faster and easier which enables constant improvement. I wasn't even the one in the team who first came up with it, but I used it so much that the rest of the team feels like I own it.
It's funny because it's so simple - anyone can do it. But keeping it up can make big positive changes in a short amount of time. I've used this to improve workshops, design reviews, and even a new format of the stand-up that I suggested. And some of my team members also use this to get feedback on their processes.
The easy trick? Feedback threads. It's that simple. So for example, after I ran my first workshop with the team, my PM asked the team for feedback on it.
And I thought - wait this is great. I implemented the changes for the next workshop, and I kept using threads to get feedback and iterate.
In the past, I had left some time at the end of a workshop/meeting to gather feedback, but it always felt a bit weird to me. I felt like I was keeping people after the work was done. It also felt weird that we were all there, but not talking - some bizarre version of "alone, together" because they won't see the result of the work until next time which could be in a few weeks' time. Additionally, they might need more time to reflect to give feedback.
So next time you want feedback, right after the meeting, write in your messaging app asking for feedback. You can use whatever format, but the one I keep going back to is "What was good? What could be improved?" Then you just make the necessary improvements, rinse and repeat, and you've taken your process to the next level.
Let me know if you tried it!
All the best,
Dan