We want input. I know the executives want feedback. Our company has a good history change through complaints and feedback. The founders were skeptical of version control, a programmer said we need it. They adopted CVS even though the founders thought it was pointless. We moved to SVN a couple years later when another new programmer said CVS was crap. One frontend/designer told the founders the brand and company name was crap. He created a new brand and name. Now he is in charge of the marketing department. We now have a UX department because one designer wanted to try it.
We have changed lots of things about our process and tools because the managers listen to what we, the developers, designers, QA, etc, say and ask for.
As we grow (doubling this year), our biggest challenge is maintaining the communication. Management wants, and I believe they are sincere, to have a way for anyone to complain or point out what we are doing wrong in an open and safe way. Part of that means being able to post anonymously. We once had a great discussion questioning why we are growing and why we focus on the market we do. These are big topics, unlike washing dishes and choice of coffee.
The problem is not people complaining or questioning what we are doing. The problem is someone anonymously saying "x sucks" then not having a discussion. Yes, X does suck, but if the person posting this isn't willing to give examples of why it sucks or suggest how to fix it, I consider it a harmful use of the anonymous post.
Thanks for the response. I'll mostly skip the first three paragraphs of use of anonymity that is good, but I will say it is a bit weird that version control advocacy required anonymity. If there is fear of reprisal from something that most normal developers reasonably advocate for, then there is a culture of fear present, which is nearly always based on past experiences of punishment. Something to look into and perhaps fix there.
The last paragraph is where you give an example of bad use of anonymity. You state a situation where someone says X sucks, and it is known that X does suck. This you say is harmful use. But it is not harmful. The person says X sucks, and X does suck. Since you know that X sucks, you yourself and others must know why it sucks. Saying it is not only wrong but harmful to state what is obvious and known at your firm is yet another indication that you have a corporate environment of fear and reprisals. Obviously someone doing "harm" should be gotten rid of, therefore, accepting your assertion it is harm, the person should be eliminated. Not considered though is that the person is obviously NOT doing harm and that stating so is unfounded propaganda to squash an unpopular statement of truth.
We have changed lots of things about our process and tools because the managers listen to what we, the developers, designers, QA, etc, say and ask for.
As we grow (doubling this year), our biggest challenge is maintaining the communication. Management wants, and I believe they are sincere, to have a way for anyone to complain or point out what we are doing wrong in an open and safe way. Part of that means being able to post anonymously. We once had a great discussion questioning why we are growing and why we focus on the market we do. These are big topics, unlike washing dishes and choice of coffee.
The problem is not people complaining or questioning what we are doing. The problem is someone anonymously saying "x sucks" then not having a discussion. Yes, X does suck, but if the person posting this isn't willing to give examples of why it sucks or suggest how to fix it, I consider it a harmful use of the anonymous post.