A better way to write comments

“We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.”
- Marshall McLuhan

You’ve just finished a design or a piece of writing that you’ve been working on for a while now. 

You welcome feedback from your team because it helps you improve the work. Yet, you also have an uneasy feeling that comments can often generate. How big is the change that someone is suggesting? How crucial is it? Will you understand it well enough and have enough time to make it?

Without a clear understanding of the amount of work suggested, all you see is a stream of comments, which range from notes about small details to concerns about large sections of the work. Each comment requires time to understand and interpret.

It can be overwhelming. 

So how can you avoid feeling overwhelmed?

I have written in the past about giving feedback and how you can “Contribute more than you comment.” Feedback comes in all shapes and sizes, and often that feedback should not come in the form of a comment at all. But if feedback needs to be in the form of a comment, then there’s something you can ask your commenters to do, which will help you avoid being overwhelmed and will also help your commenters to contemplate and clarify their feedback. 

Ask your commenters to make one small change that can make a big difference. Ask them to add a prefix to their comment. 

This prefix is using the words small, medium, or large.  

Small: for changes that are minor errors or updates. 

Medium: For issues that require a bit more thought or collaboration. 

Large: For fundamental issues with the idea. 

Ideally, the moment someone adds the prefix “Large” to a comment, they should realize that large comments are not comments; they are opportunities for the commenter to contribute an idea or set up a conversation to help improve the situation. 

Adding one of these three small words at the start of a comment provides some much-needed context and gives the receiver of the comment a sense of priority in their feedback. 

Try this with your work collaborators, and let me know how it goes. 

Of course, this kind of change takes time, so to begin with, try the exercise yourself. Read through the comments people have made on your work, and tag them small, medium, and large. Then, try it when you comment on other people’s work–how does it feel to explain your comments as small, medium, or large? 

Commenting tools are helpful for collaboration, but we must make sure we control our tools rather than them controlling us.