Feedback

Give and receive feedback

We have two basic ways of getting better: we can enhance our strengths, and shore up our weaknesses. RubySteps 21-Day Challenge focuses primarily on enhancing our strengths.

You may give unsolicited feedback on any pull request, as long as you Turn Up the Good.

If you see something you like, say something! Let people know what they did well so they can do more of it. A simple way to do this is to lead with the phrase, "I like how you..."

Does something look a little off to you? Is something completely wrong with the code? Does it violate every idiom and code sensibility that you hold dear? Please bite your tongue. Unless you see the person...

Ask for feedback

If you want feedback, let people know in your pull request! You can ask specific questions, or ask for general feedback... and you can get even better feedback if you comment on a particular line number.

We want you to get the kind of help that you want and need. Feel free to tag your pull request subject, to give other adventurers a quick indicator that you have a specific question that you'd like help with. You can't assign GitHub labels yourself... so just use a free-form text tag in your subject to quickly express intent. For example, I might title my pull request as "[refactor] Pat's day 07" to let people know that I'm interested in help refactoring - and then I'd ask my specific question in the pull request body.

Remember

By default, you may offer strictly positive feedback on any pull request. If an adventurer explicitly requests feedback on a given pull request, you may point out what you perceive as flaws or potential improvements as long as they relate to the explicit request for feedback. If you notice a different part of code that could be done differently... just remember that we all learn at a different pace :)

We all share a goal of getting better at Ruby. The good news is, we can get better simply by showing up and doing a little bit of work every day. While some people value the chance to get better by having their flaws exposed, others will feel discouraged. This leads to the following two principles of feedback in the RubySteps 21-Day Challenge:

1. Positive feedback is always welcome.
2. Critical feedback is opt-in only, every time.