Giving Constructive Feedback (The SBI Model)
Feedback is a gift, but only if it's wrapped correctly. In tech, we use the SBI Model to keep feedback objective and professional.
The SBI Framework
- Situation: Define the when and where.
- "During the client demo this morning..."
- Behavior: Describe the specific action (no "You are..." statements).
- "...you didn't have the latest slides ready..."
- Impact: Explain the result of that behavior.
- "...and it made the team look disorganized to the customer."
Avoiding "Always" and "Never"
Words like "always" and "never" are generalizations that make people defensive.
- Bad: "You are always late to standup."
- Good: "You were 10 minutes late to standup on Tuesday and Wednesday."
Making it Actionable
End with a "Forward-looking" request:
- "How can we make sure the slides are synced 30 minutes before the next demo?"
- "I'd like to see you take more ownership of the documentation next sprint."
Alex's Tip: Use the phrase "I noticed..." instead of "You did...". It sounds less like an accusation and more like an observation. "I noticed that the PR reviews are taking a few days to complete."
The impact connects the behavior to an outcome the person cares about.
Adding the ask
After SBI, add a clear ask or suggestion:
In future client meetings, could you let them finish their full thought before responding? That will help us understand their needs better.
This turns the feedback into a forward-looking action, not just a complaint. Pair every piece of constructive feedback with support: How can I help you with this?
Positive feedback too
Feedback is not only corrective. Positive feedback reinforces good behavior and should be specific too:
In yesterday's demo (situation), you handled the tough question about pricing really calmly (behavior). The client looked reassured, and we moved forward smoothly (impact).
Specific praise is far more motivating than a generic good job.
Common mistakes
- Vague feedback. You need to improve gives no direction. Name the specific behavior.
- Personality attacks. You're careless feels fixed. Describe what they did.
- No impact or ask. Without impact, it feels arbitrary; without an ask, it is not actionable.
Practice
Rewrite this vague feedback using the SBI model:
You're really disorganized and need to do better.
An SBI version:
In the last two sprints (situation), two tickets were missing acceptance criteria (behavior), which caused confusion in QA and delayed the release by a day (impact). Could we add a checklist to each ticket before it moves to in-progress?
In the next lesson, you will learn delegation, how to assign work clearly so it actually gets done.