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A Real-World Mentoring Example to Give Effective Feedback

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In this post I will address a real‑world Q&A on communication, feedback, and process‑building in a dev team.

Case Study

“One thing that’s causing some considerable delays to this project is that X is not as responsive as I would expect.
I haven’t been able to reach him at all this morning. It’s not uncommon that it takes him one or two hours to respond to a message on Slack or to act on a code review, if not more. This makes tasks that would be concluded within a few hours extend to a few days, because of the slowness of the cycle for feedback and actual changes being implemented.
I don’t know how I can address this problem with him directly, and I also don’t think I’m in a position to do so. I thought it was better to escalate this to you.”

The Core Issue? 

Communication latency is turning quick iterations into protracted wait‑cycles, and the person who needs to get feedback is the least able to provide it on time.

The First Thing to be done to fix this

My immediate advice was:

“but first thing address this asap, you might be uncomfortable but try to be honest about what you are observing and how it is slowing you down in return. try to do this today itself.”

Start with a Direct, Transparent Conversation

  1. Be honest & non‑accusatory – “I’ve noticed that my Slack messages & PR reviews are taking a while to get back to me, and it’s delaying my work.”
  2. Explain the impact – “If I need an update in 30 minutes, a 2‑hour lag pushes my deadline by X days.”
  3. Ask for the other side – “Do you feel blocked by anything? Anything that would make it easier for you to respond faster?”

Why?
A straightforward chat sets the tone that this is a team issue, not a personal gripe. It gives X the chance to explain constraints (personal, technical, workload, or tooling) that you may not be aware of.

When I gave the above advice, the person told me I’m not sure I’m the right person to give this feedback—how do I navigate hierarchy and authority?

In the next post, I will address how to navigate hierarchy and authority in such a situation.

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