The Difference – Feedback and Feed-forward

Before we compare and contrast these too concepts let’s look at the definitions.

Feedback:
Information about reactions to a product, a person's performance of a task, etc., used as a basis for improvement.

Feed-forward:
The modification or control of a process using its anticipated results or effects.

The easy way to understand the difference between conventional feedback and feed-forward is to think in terms of the past and the future. Conventional feedback is past focused. It provides information about past activity and performance. Feed-forward on the other hand is future focused. It works around information about what a person could do differently in future interactions with your products or services. These suggestions for improvement enable people to make on-going adjustments in how they are executing their job performance.

To properly benefit from feed-forward you must first have and understand accurate feedback from your customers or staff.

The fundamental problem with all types of feedback: it focuses on the past, on what has already occurred, not on the infinite variety of opportunities that can happen in the future. As such, feedback can be limited and static, as opposed to expansive and dynamic.

Feed-forward is often thought of as guessing what people will do in a future interaction. Feed-forward means using suggestions for the future that might help them achieve a positive change in their selected behavior. If participants have worked together in the past, they are not allowed to give any feedback or actions from the past.

The baseline for feed-forward success is getting your desired results. So you may want to test in small groups before applying the tested technique in wide scale applications.

The solutions you create may become an integral part of how your customers feed, clothe and purchase in the near and long term. At one end of the continuum is a clear distinction between providing instruction and providing feedback. However, when feedback is combined with more a correctional review, the feedback and instruction become intertwined until the process itself takes on the forms of new instruction, rather than informing the user solely about correctness.

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