Asking for feedback can feel awkward, and giving it can be just as uncomfortable.
In many companies, the feedback process can devolve into struggles over punctuation or vague critiques that don't provide real value. Conversely, receiving requests for feedback often means wading through poorly constructed documents or hastily generated AI content, combined with unrealistic deadlines.
We've already talked about ETAs in What's the ETA?. Another classical question for product and engineering teams is:
"Is this feature available?"
"Do we already have XYZ?"
"How much is built vs. how much is aspirational?"
They're valid questions.
"What's the ETA for feature XYZ?"
"When will feature XYZ be done?"
Last time I counted, I've been asked and I've asked those questions about 14,400 times in 20 years I've spent in the coding trenches. Here is how I handle this question when talking to executives.