Feedback isn't just a pain in the ass, it's friction and friction is uncomfortable. It's even more uncomfortable working remotely. We need to push our teams and ourselves into the discomfort - saying hard things, giving real feedback - or as you said, our standards will continue to plummet. Thanks for sharing this!
One key point I would add: If, as a manager, I find myself genuinely saying "looks good" (i.e. the work meets or exceeds my high standards), I will encourage this team member to use their judgement and skip running it past me next time. The best thing is when I see good doc, launch announcement, etc FYI, it is great and took zero of my time on reviewing. If I am not the bottleneck, customer benefits faster.
Great advice, very practical. I agree that saying "looks good" without meaning it sets up leaders for long-term inefficiencies—and it silently sets a lower bar for the team. You either lead proactively, addressing issues in real-time, or you’ll be stuck reacting as those unaddressed issues accumulate.
Loved this: "Most of the time you are right, but in the 10% you are wrong, it’s very annoying. If you had given me even a little clue you are not 100% sure, I would have insisted on my opinion.”
I really enjoyed this post and it’s relevant to team discussions we’re having now.
As a startup founder, I both want to empower our team (don’t get bottlenecked waiting for approval or input as in some of the bigger tech bureaucracy I’ve experienced) and ensure what we’re shipping meets an appropriately high quality bar.
I kind of think we’re due for a reclaiming of LGTM as a way to affirm but - as you said - only when we REALLY mean it.
I appreciate the points about radical candor etc but I think this isn’t just about communication, it’s about reducing the overhead to achieve sufficient context to give good feedback.
Part of the challenge today is as a busy founder or exec or manager, you can’t easily get the context you need to actually give useful feedback or a confident LGTM to a code, product, design, content review etc.
So we need to improve not just our communication but also how context is delivered to have tighter, more productive feedback loops.
I recently had the luck to experience your feedback, it's very interesting to see how intentional you are about that approach.
That was definitely the most detailed feedback I ever got on my writing. It had both the 'bigger picture' parts, completely changing my idea, and you pointed out every small problem in the content itself 😅
Thanks for that opportunity.
I feel there is a 3rd option to why people say it - the desire to give 'autonomy', and not being seen as a micromanager, or petty. If your people have a lower quality bar, insisting on small things they don't believe matter may hurt those relationships (or at least we believe so).
Constantly setting a high bar requires a lot of emotional strength, and confidence in your leadership.
This is an excellent example as to why actions must have objectives. If you can match the defined and accepted objective, you can complete the action without overdoing it and still make your impact. The "done is better than perfect" quote from productivity circles can be insidious to be sure, but there is also some merit to not overdoing. Balance in all things.
I also think there's a lot of value in providing feedback about why something is good. Ideally you're getting your reports to a place where they don't have to run everything by you, and that involves understanding what you do like/value as a manager as much as what you don't.
Feedback isn't just a pain in the ass, it's friction and friction is uncomfortable. It's even more uncomfortable working remotely. We need to push our teams and ourselves into the discomfort - saying hard things, giving real feedback - or as you said, our standards will continue to plummet. Thanks for sharing this!
One key point I would add: If, as a manager, I find myself genuinely saying "looks good" (i.e. the work meets or exceeds my high standards), I will encourage this team member to use their judgement and skip running it past me next time. The best thing is when I see good doc, launch announcement, etc FYI, it is great and took zero of my time on reviewing. If I am not the bottleneck, customer benefits faster.
Great advice, very practical. I agree that saying "looks good" without meaning it sets up leaders for long-term inefficiencies—and it silently sets a lower bar for the team. You either lead proactively, addressing issues in real-time, or you’ll be stuck reacting as those unaddressed issues accumulate.
Loved this: "Most of the time you are right, but in the 10% you are wrong, it’s very annoying. If you had given me even a little clue you are not 100% sure, I would have insisted on my opinion.”
I really enjoyed this post and it’s relevant to team discussions we’re having now.
As a startup founder, I both want to empower our team (don’t get bottlenecked waiting for approval or input as in some of the bigger tech bureaucracy I’ve experienced) and ensure what we’re shipping meets an appropriately high quality bar.
I kind of think we’re due for a reclaiming of LGTM as a way to affirm but - as you said - only when we REALLY mean it.
I appreciate the points about radical candor etc but I think this isn’t just about communication, it’s about reducing the overhead to achieve sufficient context to give good feedback.
Part of the challenge today is as a busy founder or exec or manager, you can’t easily get the context you need to actually give useful feedback or a confident LGTM to a code, product, design, content review etc.
So we need to improve not just our communication but also how context is delivered to have tighter, more productive feedback loops.
I recently had the luck to experience your feedback, it's very interesting to see how intentional you are about that approach.
That was definitely the most detailed feedback I ever got on my writing. It had both the 'bigger picture' parts, completely changing my idea, and you pointed out every small problem in the content itself 😅
Thanks for that opportunity.
I feel there is a 3rd option to why people say it - the desire to give 'autonomy', and not being seen as a micromanager, or petty. If your people have a lower quality bar, insisting on small things they don't believe matter may hurt those relationships (or at least we believe so).
Constantly setting a high bar requires a lot of emotional strength, and confidence in your leadership.
This was so enlightening. Thank you!
This is an excellent example as to why actions must have objectives. If you can match the defined and accepted objective, you can complete the action without overdoing it and still make your impact. The "done is better than perfect" quote from productivity circles can be insidious to be sure, but there is also some merit to not overdoing. Balance in all things.
Totally agree and this reminds me of this great reflection on working at Stripe, where the author laments a "LGTM culture" in her post-Stripe job: https://every.to/p/what-i-miss-about-working-at-stripe.
I also think there's a lot of value in providing feedback about why something is good. Ideally you're getting your reports to a place where they don't have to run everything by you, and that involves understanding what you do like/value as a manager as much as what you don't.