Something to readFeedback
Feedback Equation
A 3-minute essay with a three-part structure for feedback people can hear: what you saw, its impact, and a question or request
Why it’s worth your time
Feedback can go wrong in its first sentence, when it opens with a judgment the other person can argue with. Lara Hogan, a coach for managers and leaders in tech, sets out a three-part structure that starts with something observable instead.
How to give feedback people can hear
The essay · 3 min · Free
How to get it
Opens their site. We don’t copy it here; we’d rather they get the read.
- Read the essay.
Watch for the line she draws between an observation and a judgment, and for her advice on choosing which impact to name. The short section on asking a question instead of making a request is worth reading twice.
- Write one piece of feedback in three parts.
Pick something you've been meaning to raise. Write one sentence on what happened, with no adjectives about the person. Add one on the impact, choosing the one they'd care about most. End with a curious question. For example: The last three status updates went out after the client call. That meant I was answering their questions without the latest numbers. What would make an earlier send easier?
Good moments for this: before a 1:1when something small keeps bugging youafter a meeting that went sideways
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Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
Hogan's advice is to name the effect the other person cares about most, which means knowing what they're trying to get done. With a peer, that might be their deadline; with your manager, it might be the team's goal.
What might make this harder
Lead with the question, and tie the impact to something they are trying to achieve. Asking for a few minutes, rather than raising it in passing, tends to help.
Questions people ask
What is Lara Hogan's feedback equation?
A three-part structure: an observation of behavior (only the facts), the impact of that behavior, and then a question or a request. She suggests choosing the impact the other person will care about most.
What is the difference between an observation and a judgment in feedback?
An observation is something a recording could show, the who, what, when and where. A judgment is your interpretation, like you seem annoyed or that was careless. Feedback that starts with the first gives the other person less to argue with.
Is the feedback equation the same as SBI?
They're close, and Hogan says the observation step may look familiar to anyone who has used the SBI feedback tool. Her version ends with a question or a request.
How do you give feedback to a coworker without it being awkward?
Keep it small and specific: one thing you saw, the effect it had, and a genuine question. Raising it soon after, and in private, tends to help too.
What it says, and how it holds up
The premise of Lara Hogan's 2018 essay is blunt: we're mostly bad at giving feedback, and bad at preparing to hear it. Three parts are short enough to hold in your head in the middle of a conversation, which may be most of the value.
Each part does a job. The observation is the facts only, the kind of thing a camera would record, so there's little to dispute. The impact is where your view comes in, and Hogan pushes for the most concrete one by asking, again and again, what that led to. The ending is a question or a request, and she leans toward the question, because always defaulting to requests gets annoying and a curious question can prompt the other person to find their own fix.
Hogan notes the overlap with SBI, another feedback model. Like any formula, it can come out stiff if you recite it word for word. It also assumes the other person's behavior is the issue. When the real problem is unclear expectations, or a process that sets people up to fail, a well-built sentence about behavior can miss, and the better conversation is about the setup.
Feedback built this carefully tends to work between people who both want the work to go well. When the problem is serious, or about how someone treats others, careful feedback of any kind is the wrong tool, and a formal route usually fits better.
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Picked by Truest and described in our own words. The original belongs to its creator. Last updated October 9, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.