I kind of disagree with your example for "Free of ego":
I would agree with the title in the sense that you should not write/say something like: "I am such a great developer and know better so please do XYZ..."
However, by saying that it is my opinion that recursion would work better here, I also give the other person the chance to disagree. If I say: "Recursion would be better", I claim it as a universal fact (which the other person is an idiot for not realising). In my opinion, the second option is much more likely in the other person being offended and reacting defensively.
The point about freedom from ego is that 1. your assertion is supposed to be as objective as possible and thus you would be doing yourself a disservice by framing it as mere opinion and 2. the answer, even if in disagreement, is then more likely about the assertion instead of being about you.
Also, in an actual code review, I would have included an example code to prove my assertion, like I did here: dev.to/lexlohr/comment/207o0
If someone is offended, please apologize and send them a link to this post and maybe the issue will resolve itself.
Of course, it should be as objective as possible, but in the end we are (usually) not talking about the laws of physics, so in the end, it is still an opinion. It should be strongly based on facts, which you can and should explain, but in the end it is not an absolute truth (unless it is made into absolute truth by the authority of your role but that is another topic, I guess).
However, this might actually be a very cultural thing. Like in one culture, too much assertiveness is seen as arrogant while in another, you won't be taken seriously otherwise.
Sure: Switzerland
Hmm now why it is seen as arrogant, is a hard question :D.
It does cause a lot of misunderstandings with our neighbours in Germany, though :D.
I would guess in the end, assertiveness implies that I know XY better than you or that I know some "absolute" truth which you don't which would then again imply that I am worth more than you which would lead us to arrogance. But ofc that would also strongly depend on the relationship between the two people: Like if one is clearly more experienced than the other, they could be much more assertive than if it is not that clear.
"Better" is always subjective judgement and therefore wrong in criticism. Omit that and only bring on the reasons why you would believe something is arguably better than other choices.
But yes, if you want to strenghen your criticism, you should not disregard other choices, but again explain the reasons why you would choose otherwise, i.e.
"Angular's inclusion of rx can make it easy to add more complexity than is actually needed, thus providing a dangerous foot-gun that could harm the maintainability of the project if not wielded carefully; since your project is not that complex, its use may be considered unwarranted. Vue could be an alternative, but you'll find more developers already familiar with react, which is also why Svelte or Solid.js, while otherwise viable, might be less interesting than react."
So you do not assert a judgement, you assert your reasons for reaching that judgement - and either the recipient will take it to reach the same conclusion or will provide different reasons to reach another conclusions and the discussion continues.
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Thanks for the interesting article :-)
I kind of disagree with your example for "Free of ego":
I would agree with the title in the sense that you should not write/say something like: "I am such a great developer and know better so please do XYZ..."
However, by saying that it is my opinion that recursion would work better here, I also give the other person the chance to disagree. If I say: "Recursion would be better", I claim it as a universal fact (which the other person is an idiot for not realising). In my opinion, the second option is much more likely in the other person being offended and reacting defensively.
The point about freedom from ego is that 1. your assertion is supposed to be as objective as possible and thus you would be doing yourself a disservice by framing it as mere opinion and 2. the answer, even if in disagreement, is then more likely about the assertion instead of being about you.
Also, in an actual code review, I would have included an example code to prove my assertion, like I did here: dev.to/lexlohr/comment/207o0
If someone is offended, please apologize and send them a link to this post and maybe the issue will resolve itself.
Of course, it should be as objective as possible, but in the end we are (usually) not talking about the laws of physics, so in the end, it is still an opinion. It should be strongly based on facts, which you can and should explain, but in the end it is not an absolute truth (unless it is made into absolute truth by the authority of your role but that is another topic, I guess).
However, this might actually be a very cultural thing. Like in one culture, too much assertiveness is seen as arrogant while in another, you won't be taken seriously otherwise.
Thank you for that insight. Might I inquire which culture you are from and why it sees assertiveness as arrogant?
Sure: Switzerland
Hmm now why it is seen as arrogant, is a hard question :D.
It does cause a lot of misunderstandings with our neighbours in Germany, though :D.
I would guess in the end, assertiveness implies that I know XY better than you or that I know some "absolute" truth which you don't which would then again imply that I am worth more than you which would lead us to arrogance. But ofc that would also strongly depend on the relationship between the two people: Like if one is clearly more experienced than the other, they could be much more assertive than if it is not that clear.
"Better" is always subjective judgement and therefore wrong in criticism. Omit that and only bring on the reasons why you would believe something is arguably better than other choices.
But yes, if you want to strenghen your criticism, you should not disregard other choices, but again explain the reasons why you would choose otherwise, i.e.
So you do not assert a judgement, you assert your reasons for reaching that judgement - and either the recipient will take it to reach the same conclusion or will provide different reasons to reach another conclusions and the discussion continues.