

Tell Your Boss Anything - maxcameron
https://www.tellyourbossanything.com/

======
aculver
Don't do this, unless your boss has specifically opted into a service like
this.

First, if you need to use a service like this to get stuff across to your
boss, this is my feedback to _you_ :

Fix yourself (specifically the issue you have bringing stuff up with your
boss) _or_ (if they're the reason you feel like you can't talk to them about
something) find a new boss. No amount of anonymous feedback is going to fix a
poor relationship with your boss. And it's probably not going to fix the other
stuff, either.

Anonymous feedback is terrible:

\- It's too easy for a manager to disregard or mentally down-vote as being
from a bad apple or someone they don't see eye-to-eye with.

\- Without being able to put your feedback in context of who you are, where
you're coming from, and what your relationship is with them, it could also
make what you're saying a lot more hurtful than you mean it to be. For
example, they might think it was from someone else. And maybe your feedback,
coming from someone else they work more closely with, would really hit a nerve
for some reason.

\- It also seems unthoughtful to deliver anonymous feedback to someone without
giving them some way of addressing the feedback, perhaps giving you some
feedback of their own, should they think the feedback was flawed in some way.

Instead, we need to be having real conversations. If those aren't working,
maybe you're in the wrong place.

~~~
happiily
"No amount of anonymous feedback is going to fix a poor relationship with your
boss"

If a relationship has become truly broken, it's unlikely our system is going
to fix it. In that case, you might be right that the person should seek
employment elsewhere.

But there are many scenarios by which the relationship can be improved by
anonymous feedback. Keep in mind that a lot of the feedback managers tell us
they get are based on feedback about systems, tools used, company policies and
the like.

We've built (and are building) a follow-up mechanism to try and ensure good
feedback doesn't go ignored and that the downvoting you speak of is actually
transparent in the system.

If you try our service, you'll see that the feedback is in fact both ways.
Managers can reply, ask follow-up questions, mark the issue as resolved and so
on. Likewise, the employee can reply and do the same.

Not everyone wants to leave or feels they can leave (in this economy). They
want a mechanism to try and fix something without fear of retribution. That's
what we're trying to provide.

~~~
dutchbrit
Giving feedback is always better in person I find, mainly because giving
feedback in person (not to be mistaken with criticism) allows you to have a
fluid conversation, your boss will also appreciate it more, you show you
really care and you have the balls to go up to him. People get promoted that
way. It's just more "relaxed" and your boss will take it more serious.

------
empika
It is a shame that so many people are unable to have conversations with their
boss as adults, no matter how good/bad the feedback is.

Email is never a good way to have difficult conversations. Too many wires get
crossed and meaning is extracted where there was no intent.

It would be nice if there were some guides on the page about how to have these
conversations in person. 'Crucial Conversations' is a great starting place
[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-Conversations-Tools-
Talking-...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-Conversations-Tools-Talking-
Stakes/dp/0071401946)

~~~
CoughlinJ
Speaking as someone who's had his "tone" addressed in emails, and the survivor
of many a blunt conversation with my boss, the best way to get a point across
is to just state the facts. Don't be pompous, don't feign ignorance, or try to
blame others, just spit it out, and have whatever you need to tell them
written or typed out on a piece of paper. The last thing is to be respectful.
Even if you don't respect them, they ARE in a position above you, and that
DOES mean something, not only to them, but to others as well. Keep it civil,
state the facts, and never apologize (unless you're the one who messed up. If
that is the case, do so sincerely and politely).

~~~
empika
Yup, respect, empathy and congruence.

Be respectful, understand that it might be hard to hear your feedback and try
and word it in the most direct way possible.

I think i might be missing another thing, but I forget. Those three things
will get you far though.

Not sure that I agree with them being in a position 'above' you though. You
are both adults. They might have more responsibility than you, but that does
not mean that they are 'above' you. I treat every single person in the company
I work for as an equal, from the junior consultants to the MD and chairman of
the board. I also expect them to treat me the same.

------
jsherry
360 feedback is good. But if you want to use this to remain anonymous, then
this excerpt from their "Promises" section doesn't instill the greatest level
of confidence:

"If you do not use insults, verbal abuse or foul language, we will do
everything in our power to keep your identity hidden. In other words, don't be
mean and we'll have your back."

~~~
happiily
Can you help us improve the clarity of this part of our promises? Obviously,
we don't want our service to be used to present hateful, threatening or
abusive messages and providing a user doesn't do any of those things, we will
do everything in our power to prevent their identify from being revealed.

We welcome your feedback.

~~~
Spooky23
Simple: We will not reveal any details regarding your identity unless we are
compelled to do so by law.

Once you decide to be the arbiter of what constitutes abuse or foul language,
you're embarking on a trip down the rabbit hole.

~~~
happiily
Thanks a lot.

~~~
rpicard
Is it necessary to associate feedback with the user's email address after
you've confirmed their identity?

If you don't associate their information with the feedback, I think users
would be a lot more confident in your promise of privacy. You can't reveal
what you don't have.

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trusko
I worked on something similar but more generic -
<http://www.complainator.com/>

The idea is that for example you like service provider (gym, dentist), you
want to keep coming back, but you want to let them know about something that's
bugging you - noisy music, messy office, toilets etc. I got feedback from some
people where their issues were resolved.

When it comes to bosses ... I just can't imagine it working unless you have 10
or more people on the team. You can't discuss particular situations because
your identity would be revealed. But that's me, I wish you good luck

~~~
happiily
Looks like you are in BC. Our team is on Vancouver Island! We're doing
everything we can to keep the feedback inside Tell Your Boss Anything civil.

You're absolutely right that the degree of anonymity is increased with more
people on a team.

~~~
pavel_lishin
It's weird to address the issue of anonymity, by starting out with "I KNOW
WHERE YOU LIVE".

~~~
happiily
Ha, Touche. A simple quick glance at the complaintanator website shows the top
items to be BC based. Location inference. Less weird.

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Ganthor
While the design seems fairly nice, the idea is nothing new.

Rypple, founded in 2008, started out with an anonymous feedback application
built for the enterprise (albeit, I don't think the messaging was quite as
forward as it is for this service, I think it required the manager opting in).
Rypple eventually pivoted into a performance management cum next-gen
performance review app, but the anonymous feedback feature is still a
component. It was acquired by Salesforce.com last year.

I love the idea of anonymous feedback, it's one of the aspects of Rypple that
initially attracted me to work at the company (I used to work at Rypple).

However, I'm not even sure Rypple was the first mover in the corporate
anonymous feedback space, there's been quite a few similar services over the
years. I think an app with just this feature, given how there's been
consolidation in the HCM industry and providers now often offer a full suite
of HR/performance management tools nowadays, is unlikely to achieve major
success. That said, there's still a ton of small startups in the space that
have similar ideas to Happiily.

~~~
happiily
We're not laying claim to being first. Anonymous Feedback is nothing new.
'Anonymous' suggestion boxes been around for a long time.

By the sounds of it, you're aware of our enterprise product (i.e. has to be
activated by a manager or leadership team) product called happiily which is
also our company name. Part of our motivation in building this new product was
to provide smaller companies and teams a product to collect feedback quickly.

As well, we wanted to build a product that could provide value without first
being activated by a manager. That's really the crux of the experiment here at
Tell Your Boss Anything.

And yes, there are lots of startups seeking to improve the way people work.
And that's a good thing.

------
prezjordan
I thought about developing a piece of software for businesses to use in-house
for employees to ask questions, anonymously. In the end, however, I decided
that even though you would be "anonymous," there's a lot of guessing of who is
actually asking the questions (especially new hires, people who ask a lot of
questions, etc).

~~~
happiily
The point you raise is a good one and it's also what wizawuza mentions.
Anonymity is increased the larger the crowd size. One way we're seeing Tell
Your Boss Anything used is for all feedback to be directed to the CEO instead
of to an individual manager.

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pejapeja
I tried it out, the boss have to pay to read the message. Kind of smart way to
get some income but from the bosses' point of view, having to pay money to get
a bitter message will just make the day for them...

~~~
happiily
To be clear, the first person that sends feedback to their boss, the boss sees
that feedback and can reply to that for free.

Only when a 2nd person sends feedback to that same manager, does the rest of
the feedback (from employee 2, 3, 4etc) get locked until the manager switches
to a paying account.

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danso
Unless this becomes viral and ubiquitously popular, I imagine the average boss
will perceive this bizarre mode of communication as being passive-
aggressive/somewhat-creepy, and thus will instinctively have a dismissive
attitude towards whatever feedback is sent through it. At the very least,
he/she will spend a significant amount of time mentally sussing out clues to,
"Who the hell sent this?"

~~~
happiily
What we're seeing (and what we hope continues) is managers proactively using
the service as a place where employees can turn to provide feedback that
they're not yet comfortable discussing in person.

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wizawuza
What if you're the only person that reports to your boss?

~~~
irishcoffee
What kind of answer do you expect to this question? Honestly, I'm curious.

~~~
unohoo
I couldnt help LOL even though you might have asked the question sincerely.

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pyoung
I could see HR throwing a fit if they ever found out that an employee used a
non-approved third party service to voice an official complaint.

Interesting idea, but tread lightly. A better idea would be to implement this
as enterprise SAAS. That way employees wouldn't have to worry about HR policy.

~~~
greenyoda
If the service was paid for by your employer you wouldn't be able to trust it
to be anonymous.

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manishsharan
This is a bad idea. Email is simply the a horribly ineffective way of
communicating with your boss , especially for sensitive matters. Instead treat
your boss to coffee/tea/beer and bring up whatever is bugging you. The worst
thing you can do it to involve a third party.

~~~
happiily
We absolutely believe that the _best way_ to resolve an issue is to
communicate face-to-face with your boss. The problem is that there are many
reasons why someone doesn't feel comfortable in doing so. Thus, we've created
this outlet as a starting place. Also, while this tool might not be for you, I
don't think that invalidates the idea. Might others not share your confidence
in addressing any issue with their boss?

One outcome we'd like to see from this tool is for conversations that begin
anonymously to end in person. In other words, that we're helping initially
build the trust to bring employee and manager together in person.

We have a feedback mechanism for both sides of the conversation to indicate
whether - as a result of the conversation - the issue has been resolved,
worsened or improved. We'd like to see a lot of "resolved."

~~~
empika
As I mentioned in my previous comment, it would be great to give some advice
on how best to give feedback and have conversations in person. Any plans for
that sort of thing?

~~~
happiily
Yes, absolutely. Apologies: missed the previous comment. A guide is a good
start and we'd like to possibly take it further to help guide the conversation
productively. It's early days for us (just launched on Monday) so please
check-in with us from time to time.

~~~
empika
Excellent, glad to here it, thanks.

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mmahemoff
If employees have to resort to anonymous feedback, something's broken. A good
use for this website is for companies to monitor any traffic coming from this
domain, and treat it as a red flag.

~~~
happiily
You're probably right about things being broken. The whole point of this site
is to help fix them.

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huwr
Nice try, my boss.

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vtry
Find a better job. The job market for tech people is booming.

