When someone says of your organisation “I want you to do X” do not say “You are wrong to want X”
This rudely discourages them from giving you feedback in future. Instead, there are a number of options:
If you want their feedback “Why do you want X?” “How does a lack of X affect you?”
If you don’t want their feedback “Sorry, we’re not taking feedback on that right now” or “Doing X isn’t a priority for us”
If you think they fundamentally misunderstand something “Can I ask you a question relating to X?”
None of these options tell them they are wrong.
I do a lot of user testing. Sometimes a user tells me something I disagree with. But they are the user. They know what they want. If I disagree, it’s either because they aren’t actually a user I want to support, they misunderstand how hard something is, or they don’t know how to solve their own problems.
None of these are solved by telling them they are wrong.
Often I see people responding to feedback with correction. I often do it myself. I think it has the wrong incentives. Rather than trying to tell someone they are wrong, now I try to either react with curiosity or to explain that I’m not taking feedback right now. That’s about me rather than them.
Maximise useful feedback, minimise rudeness
When someone says of your organisation “I want you to do X” do not say “You are wrong to want X”
This rudely discourages them from giving you feedback in future. Instead, there are a number of options:
If you want their feedback “Why do you want X?” “How does a lack of X affect you?”
If you don’t want their feedback “Sorry, we’re not taking feedback on that right now” or “Doing X isn’t a priority for us”
If you think they fundamentally misunderstand something “Can I ask you a question relating to X?”
None of these options tell them they are wrong.
I do a lot of user testing. Sometimes a user tells me something I disagree with. But they are the user. They know what they want. If I disagree, it’s either because they aren’t actually a user I want to support, they misunderstand how hard something is, or they don’t know how to solve their own problems.
None of these are solved by telling them they are wrong.
Often I see people responding to feedback with correction. I often do it myself. I think it has the wrong incentives. Rather than trying to tell someone they are wrong, now I try to either react with curiosity or to explain that I’m not taking feedback right now. That’s about me rather than them.