Gecko our friendly neighbour from Mars has got this gift from Mars – a widget to
provide feedback to your friends and colleagues.
She says it is very popular in AOL’s Mars office and hopes we will find use to this as well.
She has helped me answer some questions.
The Feedback widget is an effective way to provide feedback.
It is a means for you to help a friend or colleague get effective at their job.
More than anything it is anonymous – as though you are talking to yourself.
Go ahead and send a feedback and help your friend get better. Gecko your
friendly neighbor from Mars is here to help you with it.
- How is this widget useful?
- This widget is helpful in seeking and providing feedback. It is a way you can help a struggling friend or colleague to get effective at their job. The good part is it is anonymous – as though you are talking to yourself.
- Is this anonymous?
- Yes, the feedback you send to a recipient is anonymous. The recipient will not know who the sender is. The app does not collect information on IP, screen name or senders email address. It will be delivered to the recipient by Gecko, our friend from Mars, who will be flying by your desk.
- What are Start, Stop and Continue?
- This is a Martian way to keep things simple. You provide feedback to your friend, colleague, by filling the answer for three questions. What your friend or colleague should:
- Start doing
- Stop doing
- Continue doing
Gecko suggests that you should continue to use the widget and send one to your local leader who is standing for the next parliament election.
- How does it get delivered?
- Gecko will hand pick the feedback you have written and deliver it to the recipient!
Well, not exactly.
The feedback you write will be delivered over email to the address that you mentioned in the ‘To’ field of the widget.
- Can I send this to anyone?
- Yes, you can send this to Gecko too – don’t try this as she is the only one who knows who wrote this. But you can however send this to your manager, a peer or anyone.
Gecko suggests that you should NEVER send this to your spouse - NEVER. I have taken her advice.
- How do I know that it was sent?
- If you can understand Martian – then you will know when the feedback is sent to the recipient. If not you will have to just trust the ‘Thank you’ screen.
- Can I get a copy of the mail?
- Sorry, the feedback is meant for the recipient so Gecko will not send this to anyone else. She is a secretive person.
Gecko warns you! Do not put more than one mail address in the ‘To’ field. This will burn Gecko’s space suite and she cannot deliver your feedback or go back to Mars.
- Is there limitation on the number of words?
- Gecko can remember a limited amount of words. So be nice to her, keep each suggestion of your feedback up to 300 characters long.
- What if I want to enter more words?
- Gecko is doing lot of mental push-ups to get her memory expanded. So you will have to wait till she builds up her neurons – okay they call it isventa in martian apparently.
Gecko suggests that you write the feedback twice! Thanks Gecko that’s a great suggestion!
- Do you have Samples?
- Sure, this is what Gecko wrote me
- Start: Working
- Stop: Sleeping
- Continue: Eating
- Can I add multiple Recipients?
- Gecko wants’ to keep your feedback a secret and she thinks a secret is a secret. She does not want you to put multiple recipients and make two persons know who else this was sent to.
However Gecko says that you can send the feedback multiple times by starting all over. Great suggestion again, thanks Gecko.
- Do you have tips/Suggestions?
- This is what Gecko has to say on what worked at Mars –
Feedback is to change a person’s behavior and to make him or her more effective at their job.
So what you write as feedback, please be onenka! – okay that is martian for Objective. Once you have provided a feedback it is for the recipient to accept and change, so if you do not see a change – don’t get frustrated, give your friend or colleague a little more time.
- Can i copy this widget to my page?
- Yes, you can. You have to follow the steps mentioned below:
- 1. Check left panel of this page
- 2. Click enter button of the middle widget
- 3. Add your name and mail id
- 4. Click submit
- 5. Copy embed code
- 6. Paste the embed code in the pages like ‘BlogSpot’ which supports flash.
Do check out the answer for “Can I personalize this app?”
- Can i send a feedback now?
- Yes, you can. Steps to follow are mentioned below:
- Can I personalize this app?
- 1. Check left panel of this page
- 2. Click enter button of the last widget
- 3. Add your name and mail id
- 4. Click submit
- 5. Add Start, Stop and Continue
- 6. Submit.
- Changing colour or theme is still in the works so that is not possible yet. However, you can personalize this widget by making your own copy. You can host this widget on a blog page and provide the link to persons from whom you want feedback – anonymously.
- Which other features i will see in the future?
- Profanity Service
- Encoded Email-id to stop spamming
- Whatever you suggest either by adding comment here or sending me an anonymous feedback using this widget.
