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Thursday, June 21, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
The Saturday morning critic
Saturday mornings are always interesting. That is when the newspaper carries the weekly movie review column. Mostly the analyst expert cribs about various things. I always wonder, if the guy who made the movie or acted in the movie reads it. It is not of much use because while it criticizes, it doesn’t say what needs to be done to make it better – the next time. A person reading it is not learning anything except that it is a ‘crappy’ movie.
In your line of work, you too must be getting some documents or presentations or proposals to review. Does it ever bog you down, thinking…’Am I adding any value ?’
Let’s see if we can learn anything by using the movie example. What do they mainly write their review comments on?
- Introduction / Rating: They start with the name of movie, main actors, director etc. Normally stars (or other symbols ) indicate rating at a glance for those who don’t want to read through.
- Match Expectation: Expectation from the director or actor. Then it outlines basic story line
- Comparison: Compares with other movies of the director/ actor
- Examining components: Reviews songs and acting of primary actors
- Conclusion: concludes with whether you should watch the movie or not.
A good review should more or less contain the same things. What is additinally important is the way you convey it. This is because your ‘movie director’ will read the review and take it personally.
You are not interested in publishing the review in Saturday edition. You are interested in providing feedback to someone on their work. This feedback will help them put in what they have missed or add something to make it better. It will tell them what they have done right. So how do you go about it….
1. Match expectations
Before the review, let’s step back. You have been sent a project report for review. Before even opening the file or document, imagine what you expect the contents to be. If the document turns out to be quite different, you already have a main review comment.
2. Compare
Compare the information and details with previous reports or projects. Does this look as professional, does it contain as much data, is something important usually seen missing, is there anything that can be added to make it better? Comparing is a way to easily evaluate anything because it gives you a base. If the other person is also aware of what you are comparing with, they may be able to understand better and use your review productively.
3. Examine components and indicate specific improvements
If the report is broken up into 3 sections, break up your review and comments also accordingly. First off this tells the other person that you have taken the trouble to read all the sections. Second off, this also indicates where improvements need to be made. A generic comment that, you should provide more examples is not as useful as ‘Provide example in section 3.0 as it is a very complex situation.’
Don’t be afraid to provide a negative review comment. The person who sent it to you for review will appreciate it if you explain why you think it ‘could be better’ with a good reason. For example, ‘Using a graph instead of a table in section 4.5.8 will help to highlight the problem area.’ Or ‘Use spell check since there are a number of spelling mistakes like ‘bargin’ instead of ‘bargain’ in section 2.4.1.2. In a nutshell, don’t criticize, but provide specific comments with reasons.
4. Start and end properly
Of course, don’t forget the introduction and conclusion as this will complete your review comments. Summarize your comments at the top and indicate findings at the end.
This short write up has focused on providing review comments. This is a very common task that comes the way of many managers. Not all of them do it well, even if they have been doing it for a long time. Hope this little article helps you. At least, you would be reassured that you are doing things the right way.
In your line of work, you too must be getting some documents or presentations or proposals to review. Does it ever bog you down, thinking…’Am I adding any value ?’
Let’s see if we can learn anything by using the movie example. What do they mainly write their review comments on?
- Introduction / Rating: They start with the name of movie, main actors, director etc. Normally stars (or other symbols ) indicate rating at a glance for those who don’t want to read through.
- Match Expectation: Expectation from the director or actor. Then it outlines basic story line
- Comparison: Compares with other movies of the director/ actor
- Examining components: Reviews songs and acting of primary actors
- Conclusion: concludes with whether you should watch the movie or not.
A good review should more or less contain the same things. What is additinally important is the way you convey it. This is because your ‘movie director’ will read the review and take it personally.
You are not interested in publishing the review in Saturday edition. You are interested in providing feedback to someone on their work. This feedback will help them put in what they have missed or add something to make it better. It will tell them what they have done right. So how do you go about it….
1. Match expectations
Before the review, let’s step back. You have been sent a project report for review. Before even opening the file or document, imagine what you expect the contents to be. If the document turns out to be quite different, you already have a main review comment.
2. Compare
Compare the information and details with previous reports or projects. Does this look as professional, does it contain as much data, is something important usually seen missing, is there anything that can be added to make it better? Comparing is a way to easily evaluate anything because it gives you a base. If the other person is also aware of what you are comparing with, they may be able to understand better and use your review productively.
3. Examine components and indicate specific improvements
If the report is broken up into 3 sections, break up your review and comments also accordingly. First off this tells the other person that you have taken the trouble to read all the sections. Second off, this also indicates where improvements need to be made. A generic comment that, you should provide more examples is not as useful as ‘Provide example in section 3.0 as it is a very complex situation.’
Don’t be afraid to provide a negative review comment. The person who sent it to you for review will appreciate it if you explain why you think it ‘could be better’ with a good reason. For example, ‘Using a graph instead of a table in section 4.5.8 will help to highlight the problem area.’ Or ‘Use spell check since there are a number of spelling mistakes like ‘bargin’ instead of ‘bargain’ in section 2.4.1.2. In a nutshell, don’t criticize, but provide specific comments with reasons.
4. Start and end properly
Of course, don’t forget the introduction and conclusion as this will complete your review comments. Summarize your comments at the top and indicate findings at the end.
This short write up has focused on providing review comments. This is a very common task that comes the way of many managers. Not all of them do it well, even if they have been doing it for a long time. Hope this little article helps you. At least, you would be reassured that you are doing things the right way.
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