Please comment??
I had an extremely interesting conversation recently. We were working on a project and we are using a collaborative tool to facilitate communication, ideas and the final deliverable. The client has an input into this tool as well and everyone is really happy. Information was flowing and version control is keeping multiple emails throughout the day at bay. All good.
So I spoke to a client baby boomer who is also someone more senior than me and I said this “what did you think of [my work], could you please comment on it?” He said sure, let’s grab a room. I was pretty stunned. Why do you need a room? Well being the junior one, I followed suit and had a brief chat about my deliverable. The conversation led on to the pantry and we were discussing what does “commenting” means. To me, its a constant feedback and a constant learning session. To me, a comment is a comment.
A written note intended as an explanation, illustration, or criticism of a passage in a book or other writing; an annotation.
A comment doesn’t have to be right or wrong. It can be another perspective to the same problem. It can also be throwing ideas around or just a simple message. However to my baby boomer colleague, a comment is a review session. Something more formal, something that requires a room and something that has a structure. Please do not get me wrong. I am not saying that he is wrong. In fact, he is absolutely correct.
Generation X / Y has a different view of the word comment and it really shows the difference in the approach to solve problems at work. Attitudes have changed and no one is right or wrong.
Is my salvation yours? « flowing motion said,
[...] cultures though, and to some extent the culture we have bred in our midst, Gen Y, are less attached to the pecking order culture. They are often amazed at our shenanigans and [...]
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