The immediate feedback of pro baseball
Brian, Randy and I were at the Giants/Rockies game tonight here in San Francisco at the beautiful AT&T Park. A funny thing we realized is the immediate feedback the crowd gives pro ball players. As soon as they complete even the smallest part of their jobs, say swinging the bat, immediate praise or criticism is given in liberal portions by us random bystanders.
This is, of course, a field where successful hitting in 1/3 of your chances is considered MVP-caliber performance. But still, every swing of the bat that results in a big whiff gets prompt and loud BOOOOOs from the crowd. Immediate, effective(?) feedback.
What if we used the same feedback in our work? We started cracking up at the thought of booing or cheering our colleagues at design reviews, especially in the common baseball situation where the bat makes contact with the ball, prompting cheers, only to fall into the glove of the fielder, bringing quick boos.
As if we’d be observing a design coming onto the screen, only to realize it was a total miss. Like that would ever happen.
Or using inspiring music to get each other going between meetings. Maybe some Rob Base, or Kernkraft 4000. Funny to mix the norms of two industries…