Simon Willison’s Weblog

If you give feedback that isn’t constructive your feedback is worthless. I know that sounds harsh but it is. If you give unconstructive feedback you might as well not be saying anything. If you just look at something and go “That’s stupid” or “I don’t like that”—that’s worthless feedback, nobody can do anything with that. They’re not going to start throwing darts against the wall until you say “Oh OK, I like that”. You have to say something more.

— Timothy Cain # 5th June 2023, 4:58 pm

It’s perhaps a very English thing to find it hard to accept kind words about oneself. If anyone praised me in my early days as a comedy performer I would say, “Oh, nonsense. Shut up. No really, I was dreadful.” I remember going through this red-faced shuffle in the presence of the mighty John Cleese who upbraided me the moment we were alone. ‘You genuinely think you’re being polite and modest, don’t you?’ ‘Well, you know …’ ‘Don’t you see that when someone hears their compliments contradicted they naturally assume that you must think them a fool? [..] ‘It’s so simple. You just say thank you. You just thank them. How hard is that?’

— Stephen Fry # 23rd August 2021, 10:33 pm

If you have to repeat yourself, you weren’t clear enough the first time. However, if you’re talking about something brand new, you may have to repeat yourself for years before you’re heard. Pick your repeats wisely.

— The Basecamp Guide to Internal Communication # 25th July 2020, 3:07 pm

This is when I pull out “we don’t do that here.” It is a conversation ender. If you are the newcomer and someone who has been around a long time says “we don’t do that here”, it is hard to argue. This sentence doesn’t push my morality on anyone. If they want to do whatever it is elsewhere, I’m not telling them not to. I’m just cluing them into the local culture and values.

— Aja Hammerly # 5th August 2019, 3:59 pm