Kindly Review

11Silent but Deadly

A snake in the grass is never welcome. This sneaky review style waits until the last minute to strike and give you tons of feedback. The snake can derail projects near the deadline or add extra work when the creator thinks it's close to completion.

The Silent but Deadly reviewer often doesn't say anything and then ruins everything at the end. No matter how much you manage up, they blow up everything and only let their perfect content pass through. You often ask yourself, “Why did I bother sending it to you before this point?”

These reviewers can also be procrastinators on your team. They believe they perform best on a tight deadline. Sorry, folks, I'm going to say it: Procrastination is laziness and not fair to people who put in their all.

My Silent but Deadly reviewers are not paying attention to the creative process. They pass through early rounds of edits with few changes or feedback. They wait for the process to be “done” before adding what they think about a product. They feel that they need to see everything in place before they can shape it. I think this perspective is sometimes due to an inability to imagine what it will look like before they can see ways to change it.

This style of feedback is very problematic for the creative process. Giving feedback early in the creative process allows the team to polish an idea to greatness. Blowing it up at ...