Feedback and reviews  ·  2 min read

Clear, concise, constructive and consistent. The first three describe a single piece of feedback: the person knows what, it is short, and it says what to do next. The fourth describes the pattern over time: the same standard applied to every person and every piece of work, on every day. Consistency is what makes feedback feel fair instead of personal.

Four types of feedback: positive, corrective, formal, informalFour types of feedback: positive, corrective, formal, informalPOSITIVEWhat to keep doing, and why it workedCORRECTIVEWhat to change, and what good looks likeFORMALReviews, written, on a scheduleINFORMALDaily, spoken, in the momentThe useful kind is usually informal and corrective. The rare kind is formal and positive.
Four types, four C's. Consistency is the one that spans the whole grid.
1Feedback and reviews

The four C's

Clear. Points at a specific piece of work and a specific thing about it.

Concise. One main point, three sentences, under a minute.

Constructive. Ends with the next action: what to change or what to keep.

Consistent. The same brief produces the same review whoever did the work and whatever mood the manager is in. The same mistake gets the same note in March and in June.

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Why the fourth C is the hard one

Clear, concise and constructive can be done in the moment with effort. Consistent needs a system, because memory and mood are not consistent. A manager who reviews against a written brief is consistent almost automatically. A manager who reviews against a feeling is not, however fair they try to be.

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What inconsistency does

People stop trusting the feedback and start reading the manager. Good work gets criticized on a bad day, weak work passes on a good one, and the team learns that the standard is the mood. That is when feedback starts to feel like politics.

How M-Tracker helps

Where M-Tracker fits

Consistency is where M-Tracker helps most. Every piece of work is compared with its task's brief, the same way, every time, and the person gets one plain paragraph: what works, what is missing, what to change. The standard is the brief, not the day. Managers add their judgment on top, and because the first review was consistent, theirs can be too.

Try M-Tracker free14-day trial. No credit card. No employee surveillance.

How a task moves through M-Tracker: brief, work, review, improve, then the manager1BriefResult, audience,must include, due.Files and linksattached.2WorkThe person does itand attaches whatthey made.3ReviewM-Tracker comparesthe work with thebrief. One plainparagraph.4ImproveThey fix what ismissing while it isfresh.5ManagerSees work thatalready passed itsown test.No screenshots. No scores. The person sees the review first.
FAQ

Questions people ask

Is "caring" one of the four C's?

In some lists. Care shows in the first three being done well, so it is not a separate step.

How do I stay consistent across a large team?

Written briefs and a review against them. Consistency comes from the standard being written.

What if two people made the same mistake and one is new?

Same note about the work. Different conversation about support.

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