Comments on: Other people’s expectations http://blog.melchua.com/2006/12/17/other-peoples-expectations/ Braindump of the Mel. Seek coherency and relevance at your own risk. Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:13:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Mel http://blog.melchua.com/2006/12/17/other-peoples-expectations/comment-page-1/#comment-155 Mel Tue, 19 Dec 2006 06:50:00 +0000 http://blog.melchua.com/2006/12/17/other-peoples-expectations/#comment-155 Some people do it better than others. I believe that a good coach, teacher, (or more broadly, feedback-giver) is one that does take into account the situation of the other person as best they can; they'll never get it perfectly, but they might notice a few things about you that you missed.<br/><br/>And sometimes "I would have done it another way" is valuable feedback to have. In the case you mentioned, had I been one of the seniors on that project and heard your comment, I would have taken that as a reason for me to become more software-fluent. Not because David Does It So It Must Be Better And I Should Do It Too, but because being able to understand your perspective will ultimately make my own perspective better. Some people do it better than others. I believe that a good coach, teacher, (or more broadly, feedback-giver) is one that does take into account the situation of the other person as best they can; they’ll never get it perfectly, but they might notice a few things about you that you missed.

And sometimes “I would have done it another way” is valuable feedback to have. In the case you mentioned, had I been one of the seniors on that project and heard your comment, I would have taken that as a reason for me to become more software-fluent. Not because David Does It So It Must Be Better And I Should Do It Too, but because being able to understand your perspective will ultimately make my own perspective better.

]]> By: David Klempner http://blog.melchua.com/2006/12/17/other-peoples-expectations/comment-page-1/#comment-154 David Klempner Mon, 18 Dec 2006 08:06:00 +0000 http://blog.melchua.com/2006/12/17/other-peoples-expectations/#comment-154 Another thought, along the same lines: they really aren't <i>that</i> qualified to give you substantial feedback.<br/><br/>That is, "I would have done it this other way" isn't that useful of feedback. The feedback you'd really need is "this won't work", but you can't really figure that out until you're done.<br/><br/>Also, even the "I would have done it another way" feedback cannot really take into account skills.<br/><br/>I saw what I initially viewed as absurd misdesign in a senior project back last fall in my own program. Specifically, they were using a piece of hardware that had a parallel port connector, but their software only spoke serial. So, naturally, they solved the problem with extra hardware rather than doing an easy solution in software.<br/><br/>On the other hand, I don't think their team went on to do kernel programming in their first job. As much as a software approach is both objectively better and easier for a programmer, if they didn't have any programmers on their team <i>their</i> approach was distinctly better.<br/><br/>It's hard to account for that sort of thing in feedback. Another thought, along the same lines: they really aren’t that qualified to give you substantial feedback.

That is, “I would have done it this other way” isn’t that useful of feedback. The feedback you’d really need is “this won’t work”, but you can’t really figure that out until you’re done.

Also, even the “I would have done it another way” feedback cannot really take into account skills.

I saw what I initially viewed as absurd misdesign in a senior project back last fall in my own program. Specifically, they were using a piece of hardware that had a parallel port connector, but their software only spoke serial. So, naturally, they solved the problem with extra hardware rather than doing an easy solution in software.

On the other hand, I don’t think their team went on to do kernel programming in their first job. As much as a software approach is both objectively better and easier for a programmer, if they didn’t have any programmers on their team their approach was distinctly better.

It’s hard to account for that sort of thing in feedback.

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