A useful tactic for getting honest feedback:
“Rate this on a scale from 1-10; you can’t choose 7.”
Humans are wired to avoid conflict, and if given the option people choose 7 more than any other number.
7 is safe: it is high enough to avoid hurt feelings, but not too high: we don’t want to empower false confidence.
6 is barely passing.
8 on the other hand, is a confident endorsement.
Both tell us a lot more than the safe option in between.
The answer might hurt. But if we’re looking for feedback that’s useful, we’re better off ditching the 7.
The Daily Nugget 