"What did you think?"
is a weak question.
It invites a polite "looks good,"
and polite is useless.
You don't learn anything
from looks good.
Ask a better question:
"What would make this better?"
That small shift
gives the other person permission.
It assumes there's a next version,
that improvement is expected,
that you actually want the honest note,
not the reassurance.
Now they can tell you the real thing
without feeling like they're attacking you.
You can go further:
"If you had to change one thing, what?"
"What would take this from a seven to a ten?"
These questions make it easy
for someone to be useful to you.
Most people want to help.
They just don't want to hurt you,
so they stay vague
unless you clearly ask them not to.
Stop fishing for approval.
Start asking for the upgrade.
"What would make this better?"
is how you actually get better.
– Asael Shinder
