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Amazon has an internal tool called "Forte", a tool used once a year for employees to provide "anonymous" feedback for one another. One piece of feedback that cr

Amazon has an internal tool called "Forte", a tool used once a year for employees to provide "anonymous" feedback for one another. One piece of feedback that cropped up multiple times for me, from multiple people, was that I could improve in "bias for action", akin to analysis paralysis mentioned in the article. At first, I got a bit defensive ... and in response, I ended up running an experiment, delivering code & written documents that — inside my head — felt incomplete, unpolished, not quite at the "bar". The feedback following? Overwhelmingly positive. I had anticipated that my peers and leadership would notice a drop in quality. Instead, I was commended for speed of delivery.

tpoacher 4y ago
part of this may have been the "queen's duck" effect
jovonho 4y ago
Interesting. How long did it usually take you to ship stuff vs your coworkers? And now are you on par or even faster?
- itsmemattchung 4y ago
  I no longer work at AWS but the lesson has stuck with me. Whenever I start to feel that I'm starting to overthink, I quickly break the cycle and ship whatever I have.
  - FractalHQ 4y ago
    This has always rang true for me- even during my music career, no song ever felt ready. But my fans always loved and supported each release. Now that I write code, no PR out side project ever feels ready. But irregardless of the medium, I’m always glad I put my work out there. It’s still hard to pull the trigger though, and I still don’t do it nearly enough.
UIUC_06 4y ago
> incomplete, unpolished, not quite at the "bar" Do you think your coworkers were telling you your bar was too high?
- xboxnolifes 4y ago
  I think his coworkers were telling them exactly what they said.
quickthrower2 4y ago
Leadership doesn't care about the odd bug or two going in, but they really do love to write DONE in the spreadsheet next to a project.
gopalv 4y ago
> I had anticipated that my peers and leadership would notice a drop in quality. Speaking from my experience in writing docs fast vs slow, the peers probably noticed the drop in quality, but as a positive on team-work. Getting a document out before it is set in stone has helped bring in leadership early and have their hand in guiding your document (for better or worse). This has a diffusion of credit in general, but a document with many inputs and one editor has worked out better than a document which is written alone and only enters the debate as a "product". Giving other people the opportunity to influence your opinion before you've made up your mind is a bit of a leap - but it is better for the group than the individual.
uglygirl 4y ago
Is there any similar tool that Amazon used, that helps in providing anonymous feedback to other co-workers. I want to try it in one organization where I am involved
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
V-2 4y ago
I was once accused of perfectionism. I've been working on a crushing rebuttal for a while now.

tpoacher 4y ago

part of this may have been the "queen's duck" effect

jovonho 4y ago

Interesting. How long did it usually take you to ship stuff vs your coworkers? And now are you on par or even faster?

itsmemattchung 4y ago
I no longer work at AWS but the lesson has stuck with me. Whenever I start to feel that I'm starting to overthink, I quickly break the cycle and ship whatever I have.
- FractalHQ 4y ago
  This has always rang true for me- even during my music career, no song ever felt ready. But my fans always loved and supported each release. Now that I write code, no PR out side project ever feels ready. But irregardless of the medium, I’m always glad I put my work out there. It’s still hard to pull the trigger though, and I still don’t do it nearly enough.

UIUC_06 4y ago

> incomplete, unpolished, not quite at the "bar" Do you think your coworkers were telling you your bar was too high?

xboxnolifes 4y ago
I think his coworkers were telling them exactly what they said.

quickthrower2 4y ago

Leadership doesn't care about the odd bug or two going in, but they really do love to write DONE in the spreadsheet next to a project.

gopalv 4y ago

> I had anticipated that my peers and leadership would notice a drop in quality. Speaking from my experience in writing docs fast vs slow, the peers probably noticed the drop in quality, but as a positive on team-work. Getting a document out before it is set in stone has helped bring in leadership early and have their hand in guiding your document (for better or worse). This has a diffusion of credit in general, but a document with many inputs and one editor has worked out better than a document which is written alone and only enters the debate as a "product". Giving other people the opportunity to influence your opinion before you've made up your mind is a bit of a leap - but it is better for the group than the individual.

uglygirl 4y ago

Is there any similar tool that Amazon used, that helps in providing anonymous feedback to other co-workers. I want to try it in one organization where I am involved

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

V-2 4y ago

I was once accused of perfectionism. I've been working on a crushing rebuttal for a while now.