The feedback that stays with you

Imagine receiving a page of feedback and returning, repeatedly, to one sentence. It might contain something useful. It might be careless. It might touch a question you were already carrying.

It is tempting to explain this with a fixed equation: a certain number of compliments should cancel one criticism. That would make the experience easier to count. It would not tell you what this particular comment means to you.

Start with the words that were actually said. Then separate what you know from what you expect will happen next. A comment about one piece of work does not, by itself, establish a conclusion about everything you can do.

Curiosity can make the next conversation more precise. What needs clarification? What is worth changing? What part of the response belongs to a different, older question?

AATAM uses stories to give questions like these a setting and a consequence. No score is required. What matters is the response you notice, and whether you want to explore another one.

Explore the research and its limits.