Good and better - short actionable feedback

Continuous learning and improving is one of my key values. And to maximize the learning and follow-through with tiny improvements, I feed on feedback.

The rules

• Do it instantly (so not to forget anything)
• Keep it brief and actionable (to actually work with it)
• Connect it with values or traits that are expected

The Good/Better formula
My best formula for any feedback (strategic workshops, team rituals, personal week review) is "Good/Better":

• Use "Good:" for anything that was good
• Use "Better:" for anything that can be improved
• Write a full sentence after, so you can understand again later
• Make "Better" actionable with one specific idea for improvement
• Don't forget "Good", it's easy to forget what worked well

Here's an actual feedback I wrote down recently about my current personal OKRs:

• Good: I have both committal and aspirational objectives
• Better: Focus on 2 instead of 3 weekly key results

Limiting all feedback to two categories takes off a lot of mental load and increases the probability to actually capture feedback:

• The magic sentence for giving feedback is: "Just one pair of good/better".
• So it gets "Ah, that was a very exhausting workshop. … But I can write down just one pair of good/better".
• Or with a colleague: "Let's just take 3 min after the event and write some good/better's".
• More often than not, I will end up with a long list of observations once I got over the mental hump to actually write down my feedback.