"Vague. " "WRONG!!!!!" "It doesn’t work like this."

One of the most challenging aspects of a technical communicator’s job is receiving comments on your work. Some comments just don’t make us feel good about our work. Other comments might not make us feel badly, but also don’t help us do a better job. Responding to such comments with dignity and grace is one of the true tests of professionalism for any technical communicator.

But how do you do that? How can you respond to vague and derogatory comments with dignity and grace? Consider the following suggestions.

• Whenever possible, schedule comments to arrive on a Monday or Tuesday. By receiving comments on a Monday or Tuesday, you can immediately begin work on correcting them instead of brooding about them all weekend long.
• Wait 1 business day before responding to any comments. At the least, the extra day gives you an opportunity to calm down. At the most, the extra time gives you chance to plot an alternate course of action.
• Try to understand where reviews are coming from. Sometimes, in the haste of reviewing, reviewers make comments without thinking about what they are saying. In some cases, they are unintentionally abrupt. In other cases, they write only part of what they are actually thinking and you might be arriving at conclusions based on incomplete data.
• Speak to the reviewer. Rather than avoid the situation, face it head on--with an open mind.
  • When responding to vague comments, first tell the reviewer that you need some clarification on the comment. As best as possible, explain what you do not understand.
  • When responding to derogatory comments, first ask the reviewer to clarify the meaning.

  These approaches open a dialogue without creating a confrontation and, in the process, forge a stronger relationship with the reviewer. Through such a dialogue, technical communicators often find value in reviewers comments and reviewers better appreciate the work of technical communicators.

Another annoyance to technical communicators is receiving comments that focus on grammar and style. Some technical communicators respond in a huff, "That’s not the reviewer’s job." To some extent, these technical communicators are correct. But in some cases, the editorial suggestions are good ones. Who cares where they came from?

In other cases, reviewers provide editorial feedback because they don’t how to give technical comments. By deftly handling this situation, you can coach the reviewer for future situations. For example, if nearly all of the comments focus on grammar and style, you might follow up with a reviewer by: (1) thanking the reviewer for the comments, (2) noting the comments are primarily editorial in nature. (3) asking the reviewer if they had any overall impressions of the technical content. The last question usually elicits specific comments. When you receive them, you can suggest that the reviewer provide such comments on future drafts.

Admittedly, this section has primarily focused on negative feedback from reviewers. Those types of comments seem to command our attention. But rest assured that reviewers often have positive comments to share, too, like "Great job." "Excellent work." and an old favorite, "This is the best user’s guide we’ve ever seen!"

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(c) Copyright. 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002. Saul Carliner. All rights reserved.