How do you get feedback from your data engineering team?

1 Define your feedback goals

Before you ask for feedback, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with it. Do you want to validate your design choices, improve your code quality, optimize your performance, or learn new skills? Having specific and measurable feedback goals will help you focus your feedback requests, communicate your expectations, and evaluate the results. You can use the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to define your feedback goals and share them with your team.

2 Choose your feedback methods

Depending on your feedback goals, you can choose different methods to get feedback from your data engineering team. For example, code reviews can help you improve your code quality and readability, while peer feedback can help you learn from others' experiences. Additionally, stakeholder feedback can allow you to align your work with the business needs, and customer feedback can help you understand your customers' preferences. Tools such as GitHub, Google Forms, Jira, and Google Analytics can facilitate these processes and track changes. By using these methods, you can identify strengths and areas for improvement, measure your impact and value, as well as improve data quality and relevance.

3 Ask for feedback regularly

Getting feedback from your data engineering team should not be a one-time event, but rather a continuous and consistent practice. You should ask for feedback at different stages of your projects and from various sources to build trust and rapport with team members, stakeholders, and customers. This will help you stay updated on the status, progress, and results of your projects, as well as identify and address any issues, risks, or gaps in your work. Moreover, it enables you to adapt and adjust your work according to changing requirements or expectations. Ultimately, asking for feedback regularly can help you learn and grow as a data engineer and as a team player.

4 Give feedback as well

Getting feedback from your data engineering team is not enough; you should also give feedback to your team members, stakeholders, and customers. Doing so will demonstrate appreciation and recognition, share insights and opinions, contribute to learning and development, and build a culture of feedback. When giving feedback, you should have clear goals, choose appropriate methods, do it regularly, and be constructive, actionable, and timely. Showing appreciation and recognition, sharing insights, contributing to learning and development, and building a culture of feedback are all benefits of providing feedback.

5 Use feedback effectively

Getting and giving feedback from your data engineering team is not the end of the process. To use feedback effectively to improve your work, skills, and performance, you should thank and acknowledge the feedback providers for their time and effort. Additionally, review and analyze the feedback carefully and objectively, identify key themes, patterns, or trends, prioritize relevant feedback, implement it when feasible, monitor the outcomes and impact of the feedback, and communicate the results and actions to your team members, stakeholders, and customers. Doing so will help you demonstrate your professionalism, accountability, and responsiveness while also enhancing your data engineering projects, products, and services.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?