This is day 32203 the feedback loop.
One of the most underestimated Concepts in my opinion is what is known as the feedback loop.
It is a highly effective mechanism and despite that fact, we tend to dismiss or ignore the concept and planning business and personal projects.
So what exactly is a feedback loop?
simple concept rarely implemented
for illustration. I would tell you a short story.
When I was a young child, I would go with my mom to Weight Watchers meetings.
If you do not know what this is, it was a fad in the 70s and 80s in which women all over the country. I guess some men too would check into these clinics once a week to weigh in.
Now Weight Watchers provided many things as part of their program. They had a point system nutritional guidelines low calorie meals that you could buy.
They're still around and have a much more modern approach now.
But regardless of all the apps the online portals and the glp drug sales the most powerful aspect of the program is and always has been the check-in.
My mom would park the station wagon my sister and I would climb out and follow her into the strip mall location.
There are my mom would check in and they would escort her to a scale and then they're unceremoniously should be weighed on a scale that looked like the one that you would see in a doctor's office and there's someone would officially note her weight for the week.
The G increase did she decline?
This would be adjudicated and sometimes there would be a discussion group to review their progress.
I noted that my mom would stay when she was declining and when she was increasing.
We would quietly slip out the side door get back into that station wagon and put it in neutral and slowly roll out of the driveway before my mom would fire up that 7.5 liter big block V8 engine in our Miracle very Cruiser.
This check-in process weekly was a feedback loop. My mom would work hard on being healthy and then show up to the clinic way in and get her feedback.
She would get advice on how to improve and what to do and then she would go back and try again. This is the feedback loop and it is quite effective yet. We do not do it. This is because we do not like feedback. We do not want the potential for criticism. We avoid that usually at all costs.
I remember in one of my executive jobs setting in a meeting with the CEO where we were discussing poor customer satisfaction results.
There must be something wrong with the data our clients love us.
Emphasis on the exclamation point the question mark in her voice was to make sure that everyone in the room agreed with her.
Reality, was that no matter how you looked at the results. The customers did not think of us the same way that we thought of ourselves.
Once the CEO accepted this reality the next question became what are we going to do about it?
I had one answer feedback loop.
Crickets my suggestion got a slight nod a look of confusion and then we quickly moved on to better ideas.
I'm using the word better here with more than an edge of sarcasm.
However feedback loops were the correct answer the company needed to ask for feedback from our customers learn from that feedback make adjustments and then check back in with the customers to determine if that was successful or not.
There really is no other way in my opinion.
In the software development world you live and die by this feedback you roll out new software package and you wait anxiously for the first round of feedback and it's always bad. You know that is you know that heading into it the first glimpses usually a little bit of happiness euphoria.
followed by a string of could you or what if or perhaps or I like this but
this is how the product improves though. This is how the company improves this is how my mom improved. This is how we will all improve in any Endeavor. We are chasing.
Seek for feedback get the feedback make an improvement and then check back in. This is a feedback loop and it is continuous and never ceases. This is the classic are people view problems. As one time things a project that starts and stops Improvement is never a project and never a one-time thing. If your company or your software product is to improve then the feedback can continuous Improvement cycle needs to be continuous and constant.
One of the most underestimated Concepts in my opinion is what is known as the feedback loop.
It is a highly effective mechanism and despite that fact, we tend to dismiss or ignore the concept and planning business and personal projects.
So what exactly is a feedback loop?
simple concept rarely implemented
for illustration. I would tell you a short story.
When I was a young child, I would go with my mom to Weight Watchers meetings.
If you do not know what this is, it was a fad in the 70s and 80s in which women all over the country. I guess some men too would check into these clinics once a week to weigh in.
Now Weight Watchers provided many things as part of their program. They had a point system nutritional guidelines low calorie meals that you could buy.
They're still around and have a much more modern approach now.
But regardless of all the apps the online portals and the glp drug sales the most powerful aspect of the program is and always has been the check-in.
My mom would park the station wagon my sister and I would climb out and follow her into the strip mall location.
There are my mom would check in and they would escort her to a scale and then they're unceremoniously should be weighed on a scale that looked like the one that you would see in a doctor's office and there's someone would officially note her weight for the week.
The G increase did she decline?
This would be adjudicated and sometimes there would be a discussion group to review their progress.
I noted that my mom would stay when she was declining and when she was increasing.
We would quietly slip out the side door get back into that station wagon and put it in neutral and slowly roll out of the driveway before my mom would fire up that 7.5 liter big block V8 engine in our Miracle very Cruiser.
This check-in process weekly was a feedback loop. My mom would work hard on being healthy and then show up to the clinic way in and get her feedback.
She would get advice on how to improve and what to do and then she would go back and try again. This is the feedback loop and it is quite effective yet. We do not do it. This is because we do not like feedback. We do not want the potential for criticism. We avoid that usually at all costs.
I remember in one of my executive jobs setting in a meeting with the CEO where we were discussing poor customer satisfaction results.
There must be something wrong with the data our clients love us.
Emphasis on the exclamation point the question mark in her voice was to make sure that everyone in the room agreed with her.
Reality, was that no matter how you looked at the results. The customers did not think of us the same way that we thought of ourselves.
Once the CEO accepted this reality the next question became what are we going to do about it?
I had one answer feedback loop.
Crickets my suggestion got a slight nod a look of confusion and then we quickly moved on to better ideas.
I'm using the word better here with more than an edge of sarcasm.
However feedback loops were the correct answer the company needed to ask for feedback from our customers learn from that feedback make adjustments and then check back in with the customers to determine if that was successful or not.
There really is no other way in my opinion.
In the software development world you live and die by this feedback you roll out new software package and you wait anxiously for the first round of feedback and it's always bad. You know that is you know that heading into it the first glimpses usually a little bit of happiness euphoria.
followed by a string of could you or what if or perhaps or I like this but
this is how the product improves though. This is how the company improves this is how my mom improved. This is how we will all improve in any Endeavor. We are chasing.
Seek for feedback get the feedback make an improvement and then check back in. This is a feedback loop and it is continuous and never ceases. This is the classic are people view problems. As one time things a project that starts and stops Improvement is never a project and never a one-time thing. If your company or your software product is to improve then the feedback can continuous Improvement cycle needs to be continuous and constant.
