Peer reviews - why we have them and how to cope with the comments

Whether writing an article, blog, code, creating a video or any other document, it's important to get other people to review what you have created. This ensures the quality is good, the content reads well and that the message being portrayed is correctly expressed.

Looking for a Reviewer

First, you need a reviewer. Reviewers come in all types and forms, but generally you want someone who can read and comment on the technical content of the document, someone to assess the readability alone and either could judge the relatability. Does it read well for all the intended audience(s), does it make sense and does it resonate with other people's needs? Basically, is it worth reading?

Once you have found a reviewer, have a brief chat to discuss the document:

• Explain who is the intended audience and the context of the writing
• Check if the language is suitable for non native speakers
• Ensure they know they can be open and honest, it's pointless asking someone who will just say "looks great".

Post Review

Once the reviewer has completed their review and sent it back to you, if they have done their job well there is likely to be a number of comments. Questions, suggested changes and direct edits, but a sea of changes can be difficult to process and accept.

A lot of times after a review, I tend to go through the 5 stages of grief:

1. Denial - There's no way they understood the point of the article, there's nothing that needs changing. It's perfect! come on!
2. Anger - Well, I'm not making THAT change. This comment doesn't even make sense...
3. Bargaining - Okay, well, actually maybe I didn't write that bit very well. Okay, it's possible that I have rambled a bit too much.
4. Depression - Why do I write anything at all? I should hang up the pen or let someone else write this instead. Time for a sprinkle of imposter syndrome!
5. Acceptance - That change I made thanks to that comment is pretty good. Actually, this reads quite well now. This is so much better.

I dramatise for effect but it certainly is a whirlwind of emotions when you get comments, especially at first or with a new reviewer. Over time it gets easier and when you have a couple of reviewers you trust its easier to jump straight to bargaining.

Make sure to thank your reviewer for their time (they didn't have to read it, and they didn't have to put a lot of time / energy into it either, they could have skim read). 

Coping with review comments

There are a number of ways to cope and handle the review comments, in order to bypass at least 'denial' and 'anger' stages and possibly after a while the 'depression' stage too.

Here are my 6 top tips for coping with review comments:

1. Time to process - take some time, have a cup of tea/coffee, sleep on it and come back when you are happy / not too stressed
2. Assume the reviewer is acting in good faith - even when they are not
3. Try it out - Make a copy, try it out, does it look or feel better. You won't know if its better with the changes until you make them. The worst that happens is you back out your changes and revert to the original but generally there are always improvements to make
4. Has the reviewer misunderstood the audience, purpose or context? If so, is it obvious in the text? find out where the misunderstanding could have happened and either ask the reviewer to reread or add the context into the document
5. Have a call and talk it through - go through the comments, discuss what changes could be made, clarify the context, explain your thought process. This can accelerate future iterations and help get published quicker.
6. Don't take it personally!

Conclusion

Document reviews are very important, they make our work better by ensuring the words we write have an impact. Whether improving readability, making it more accessible, helping get direct to the point and increasing how many people actually consume the content.