Time for another vent after a very eventful week for me. I finally managed to get the last of the drafts in for my upcoming book, I managed to get some big changes accepted in to the Monogame project and finished the current round of the Microsoft/Nokia Unity porting day events (www.unityportinguk.com)
Somehow I managed to fit that all in and then I was seemingly lambasted over the next few days from all corners with petty, argumentative and judgemental comments and notes.
Criticism
Now being an evangelist and technical architect, I am very used to getting a wide and varied amount of feedback on what ever I work on. I don’t take it personally, it is one persons viewpoint on the information you have shared or are demonstrating. All feedback is worthwhile so long as you take it on board and adapt to bring further clarity on the point you are trying to get across.
Never get downbeat about feedback, especially negative feedback. Take one from the team, understand why the comment was made, is it a valid point (not all are), can you improve and if so, do. It is a learning tool just like any other, grow from it.
In the end someone has decided to take their time out and grant you some feedback on your work, value that opinion (even if it is to correct them) and respect it for what it is.
This is is all well and good with one plain and simple exception – The throw away or unexplainable comment.
Don’t Do THAT!!!
The main ruse of my vent this time round is for those comments that serve no purpose except to antagonise or just downbeat anyone’s efforts to try and actually achieve something, such as:
- That’s just plain wrong!
- You should never do it that way
- There’s no such thing as X, you are talking rubbish
These (and other) kind of comments server no purpose that for very arrogant people to show they are making a point.
There is nothing constructive in what they say or any advice or suggestion on how it may be improved.
These things wind me the hell up, sadly everytime!
Constructive Criticism
If you are going to comment on a post, forum thread, review or whatever. Try to at least impart some information about why you are making the comment and offer suggestions for how to improve it.
- That is one way to do it, but this would be better <link>
- You’re information about X isn’t accurate, this was changed a while ago. If you check here <link> you will find more up to date information
- This article is cool. Could you also add something about X and X as I think it would be very helpful
Think before you comment and ensure it’s purpose is to help both the author and whoever else is going to read the content and you comment.
Remember, Your comments reflect as much about you as they do about what you are commenting on.
Simon (darkside) Jackson
Engineer, industry executive, research enthusiast. Avid learner with diverse interests in coding, game development, Mixed Reality (AR/VR/XR) and reinforcement learning. 25+ years of experience working in multinational corporations and startups.
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