📋 Contents
- What makes peer feedback useful
- The formula: scene → effect → suggestion
- Answering the prompts on a 360 or peer review form
- Positive feedback examples
- Constructive feedback examples
- Before → after rewrites
- Phrases to avoid
- Upward feedback: reviewing your manager
- When you don’t know the person well
- Asking for good peer feedback yourself
- Quick checklist before you submit
PART 1
What makes peer feedback useful
Peer feedback often carries real weight because your colleagues see work your manager does not: how someone runs a meeting, reviews code, handles a tense client, or shares credit. But it only helps if it is specific enough for the person to act on and for a manager to use.
Compare "Alex is a strong communicator" with "In the March launch, Alex sent a short daily update to all four teams, so nobody was surprised by the date change." The second tells Alex exactly what to keep doing, and gives their manager a concrete example to cite.
PART 2
The formula: scene → effect → suggestion
| Part | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Scene | A specific situation: when, what happened | During the vendor negotiation in May, Jordan prepared a one-page comparison of three offers |
| Effect | What it changed for the team, project or you | which let us make the decision in one meeting instead of three |
| Suggestion | Keep doing, do more, or try differently | I’d love to see Jordan share that template with the other buyers |
The scene keeps feedback grounded in behavior, not personality. Saying someone is "disorganized" is a judgment about who they are. Saying "the last two project plans arrived the day before kickoff, so we had no time to raise concerns" describes a situation they can change.
If you have been through manager training, you may know a close cousin of this pattern: Situation–Behavior–Impact (SBI). Same idea. Anchor the comment in a moment, describe what the person did, and say what it caused. The suggestion step simply makes it forward-looking.
💡 Write about behavior you saw
Stick to what you directly observed. If you are repeating something you heard secondhand, either leave it out or say so clearly.
PART 3
Answering the prompts on a 360 or peer review form
Peer review forms in most HR tools ask a short set of open questions. Here is how to approach the common ones.
| Prompt | How to answer | Example (illustrative) |
|---|---|---|
| What are this person’s greatest strengths? | One or two strengths, each with a scene | Turning messy requirements into a clear plan. Her one-page brief for the Q2 launch became the doc all four teams worked from. |
| What should they start doing? | A behavior that would multiply their impact | Start sharing his analysis in the team channel, not only in DMs; more people would benefit from it. |
| What should they stop doing? | A specific habit and its cost, said kindly | Stop taking on side requests mid-sprint without flagging them; two deliverables slipped because of it. |
| What should they continue doing? | The thing you most want them not to lose | Continue the Friday handoff note to support; it has cut the "is this a bug?" pings to almost nothing. |
| One thing that would make them more effective? | Your single most useful suggestion | Summarizing decisions and owners at the end of planning meetings. |
Keep each answer to two to four sentences. Calibration discussions and managers’ write-ups tend to quote one line, so make sure your first sentence can stand alone.
PART 4
Positive feedback examples
Communication
- When the release slipped, Priya wrote a clear note to customers explaining the new date and what they needed to do. Support received almost no follow-up questions. Keep writing these; they set the standard for the team.
- Sam’s design reviews always start with the problem being solved before the screens. It makes it much easier for engineers to give useful input early.
Collaboration
- Lee offered to pair with me on the reporting migration when I was stuck on the data model. We finished a week earlier than I would have alone, and I understand the system far better now.
- In cross-team planning, Mina consistently asks what the other teams need before presenting our plan. It has made those meetings noticeably less tense.
Ownership and reliability
- Chris noticed the overnight data job had failed and fixed it before the morning dashboards went out, without anyone asking. That kind of quiet ownership is why the team trusts the data.
- Every action item Dana takes in a meeting is done by the agreed date, or Dana flags it early. I never have to chase.
Expertise and teaching
- Raj’s code reviews explain why a change is needed, not just what to change. I have learned more from his comments this year than from any course.
PART 5
Constructive feedback examples
Constructive feedback is where specificity matters most. Describe the situation and its effect, then suggest something concrete. Keep the tone of a colleague who wants them to succeed.
✍️ Constructive examples
Meetings: In our last three planning meetings, decisions were left open at the end, and we ended up re-discussing them in Slack. It would help if Taylor summarized decisions and owners in the last five minutes.
Handoffs: When Morgan handed over the client account in June, there was no written summary of open issues, and I learned about two of them from the client. A short handoff note would make transitions much smoother.
Feedback style: Some of Casey’s review comments come across as abrupt in writing, for example "this is wrong." Adding a sentence on why, or a suggested fix, would make them easier to act on.
Deadlines: The design files for the last two sprints arrived on the day development started. Even a draft two days earlier would let us raise technical concerns in time.
Scope: Jamie often takes on extra requests during a project, which is generous but has delayed our main deliverable twice. Checking new asks against the plan with the team first could help.
⚠️ Don’t sandwich everything
Wrapping every criticism between two compliments can blur the message. It is fine to give positive and constructive feedback in separate sections, each with its own clear examples.
PART 6
Before → after rewrites
| Vague | Specific |
|---|---|
| Great team player. | Covered my customer calls for two weeks during my leave and sent me a summary of each one, so I returned without any surprises. |
| Needs to communicate better. | In the budget project, changes to the numbers were shared only in the spreadsheet, so finance found out late. A short message when numbers change would help. |
| Very knowledgeable. | Answered the legal team’s questions on our data flows in one session, which unblocked the contract review. |
| Could be more proactive. | When the test environment was down for two days, I would have liked to see the issue raised in the team channel on day one rather than at standup on day two. |
PART 7
Phrases to avoid
- Personality labels: "lazy," "difficult," "negative," "not a people person."
- Absolute words: "always," "never." Use "in the last few projects" instead.
- Comparisons with other colleagues.
- Comments about age, family, appearance, health or anything unrelated to the work.
- Feedback on things you only heard about.
- Empty praise with no example: "amazing," "rock star," "the best."
Before you submit, read each comment and ask: could the person act on this? Could their manager quote it in a review? If not, add a scene or cut it.
PART 8
Upward feedback: reviewing your manager
Some companies ask employees to review their manager, often anonymously and aggregated. The same scene → effect → suggestion pattern works, and it matters even more here, because vague upward feedback ("could communicate better") is easy to dismiss.
- Positive: When priorities changed in August, you explained the reason in our team meeting the same day. It made the switch much easier to accept.
- Constructive: Our 1:1s were canceled about half the time this quarter, so I often waited a week or more for decisions. A shorter, protected slot would help.
- Constructive: Feedback on my work mostly arrived at review time. Hearing it closer to the moment would let me adjust sooner.
If the survey is truly anonymous and aggregated, avoid details so specific that only you could have written them, unless you are comfortable being identified.
PART 9
When you don’t know the person well
Sometimes you are asked for feedback on someone you worked with only briefly. Be honest about that and limit your comments to what you saw.
✍️ Limited-contact example
I worked with Robin only on the Q3 pricing review, so my view is limited to that project. In it, Robin’s analysis of competitor pricing was thorough and clearly sourced, and it shaped the final recommendation. I did not see enough of other work to comment further.
PART 10
Asking for good peer feedback yourself
If you want useful feedback, make it easy. Tell your reviewers which projects you worked on together and ask one or two focused questions.
✍️ Request message
"Thanks for agreeing to give feedback. We worked together most on the onboarding redesign and the March release. Two questions I’d especially value your view on: how did my handoffs to your team work, and is there anything I could do to make our planning meetings more useful?"
When feedback arrives, add the specific quotes to your own records. They are strong evidence in your self-evaluation, and constructive points give you an honest "area to improve."
PART 11
Quick checklist before you submit
☐ Each comment names a specific situation.
☐ Each comment says what the effect was.
☐ Constructive points include a concrete suggestion.
☐ No personality labels, absolutes or unrelated personal remarks.
☐ You would be comfortable if the person read it with your name attached.
Frequently asked questions
Q. What should I write in a peer review?
One or two strengths and one suggestion, each anchored in a specific situation you saw, with the effect it had. If the form asks start/stop/continue, give one concrete behavior for each.
Q. What is an example of constructive feedback for a coworker?
"In our last three planning meetings, decisions were left open and we re-discussed them in Slack. Summarizing decisions and owners in the last five minutes would save the team that back-and-forth."
Q. How long should peer feedback be?
Two to four specific comments are usually more useful than a long essay. One strong example per strength or suggestion is enough.
Q. Should I always include constructive feedback?
If you have something genuinely useful to suggest, yes. Do not invent criticism just to balance the form; say so if you have no concerns.
Q. Is peer feedback anonymous?
It depends on your company’s process. Write as if the person might see your name, which keeps feedback fair and specific.
Q. What if I had a conflict with the person?
Stick to observable behavior and its effect on the work. If the conflict is serious, raise it with your manager separately rather than through a review form.
Q. Can I give feedback to someone more senior?
Yes. Use the same scene → effect → suggestion pattern. Specific examples make upward feedback easier to receive.
Q. How do I write about someone who is struggling?
Be kind and concrete. Describe specific situations, acknowledge effort where you saw it, and suggest one or two practical changes.
This article is general guidance. Review formats, rating scales and expectations vary by company — check your own company’s guidelines alongside it.
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