Eliminate "I" and "You" from Peer Reviews
© 2010 Ugur Akinci
I have previously mentioned in another blog post that one of the best techniques to use in a peer review is to eliminate the second-person singular pronoun, “You.”
I recommended talking in terms of “me” and “I” in order not to offend the other party.
For example, instead of saying “You are wrong”, I recommended “I feel this may not be correct.”
TCC reader Danielle Wong has a better suggestions however…
She recommends eliminating “I” and “You” altogether from peer reviews.
In her feedback, Wong suggests:
“Another way to handle peer reviews is to eliminate the need for the pronouns “I” and “you” altogether. The work is what is being reviewed, not the person. It becomes a matter of saying “The UL Certification Process needs to be updated with the new guidelines …” and “The information in this paragraph does not fit exactly with the product functionality”. This approach allows for all people involved in the peer review to remain objective and focused on the work, not on the people involved in the review.”
Well done, Danielle, and thanks for your contribution.
How you feel about this? Any review techniques that you apply in your own line of work? Feel free to share…
I agree with Danielle. I have been involved with reviews that were rampant with ‘you’ and ‘I’ and although I’m sure it wasn’t the intention, it had the feeling more of a personal attack than a review of the material.
My own personal preference is to use the power of suggestion. Instead of sayings such as ‘You are wrong’, I would use ‘I suggest we take a closer look at this.’
I normally offer to help verify information I feel may be incorrect. It gets the writer more involved in the process and I find it helps build a trust between myself and the writer.
As a writer, I would much rather have someone who will offer positive suggestion review my work, than someone who will do nothing but fill the page with angry redlines and ‘This is wrong’ and ‘Unacceptable’ statements.
Sandy, thanks for you input. Agree with you 100%. A review should never be a personal attack but an invitation for improvement through cooperation. Re-view as in “let’s look at this one more time…”