Lesson 07 — Giving Good Feedback 🔍
You made it to the end of Level 1’s core path. That is a real achievement.
Here is something that might surprise you: you can practice a skill that makes real apps better, before you even know how to build big features. You do it by using an app and writing down what you find, clearly enough that someone else could see it too.
The app you will practice on is called GetAdvice — MILO’s friendly face, a real public app. You keep the note in this repo and review it yourself. If you have an instructor, you show them the file.
Why feedback is a real contribution
Every good app was shaped by people who tried it and said, honestly, “this part confused me” or “this button did not work.”
Testing means trying an app on purpose to find things that are broken, confusing, or could be better.
Think of it like being a taste-tester for a chef. You do not have to cook the meal. But telling the chef “this soup is too salty” is incredibly helpful. The chef cannot taste it the way a fresh person can.
You are a fresh person. That is your superpower. You notice things the builders stopped seeing a long time ago.
What makes feedback actually useful
There is a big difference between feedback that helps and feedback that leaves people guessing.
Not so helpful: “It’s broken.” (Broken how? Where? When?)
Really helpful: feedback that answers four simple questions.
| Question | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| What did you do? | The steps you took | “I tapped the microphone button on the main screen.” |
| What did you expect? | What you thought would happen | “I expected it to start listening to me.” |
| What actually happened? | What really happened | “Nothing happened, and the button turned grey.” |
| Why does it matter? | Who it affects and how much | “A new user would think the app froze and give up.” |
When you answer those four, anyone reading it knows exactly what to check. That is the whole trick.
Screenshots help a lot 📸
A screenshot is a picture of your screen. It shows a reader exactly what you saw, so they do not have to imagine it.
If something looks wrong, take a screenshot and include that picture with your feedback.
- Mac: Shift + Command + 4, then drag a box around the part you want.
- Windows: Windows key + Shift + S, then drag a box.
- iPhone: Side button + Volume Up.
- Android: usually Power + Volume Down. Your phone’s help page names the exact pair if that misses.
A picture plus your four answers turns “I think something was off” into “here, look, this is exactly what I saw.”
Where your feedback goes
This repo has a folder just for this practice. Two files matter:
- feedback-getadvice/README.md — read this first. It explains how to write the note and how to review it yourself.
- feedback-getadvice/feedback-template.md — this is a fill-in-the-blank form. It already lists the four questions for you, so you do not have to remember them.
Open the README first, then use the template as your worksheet. The template exists so you never have to stare at a blank page. The two notes already in feedback-getadvice/notes/ are worked examples. Read them. Write yours as a new file.
Let MILO help you write it up
Once you have tried GetAdvice and noticed something, you can ask MILO to help you turn your rough notes into clean, clear feedback. Paste something like this to MILO. A free chat can help with the wording too — paste your rough notes and the template. You still supply the facts.
I tested the GetAdvice app and I want to write clear feedback.
Here are my rough notes: [describe what you did, what you expected,
and what actually happened, in your own words].
Please help me fill out the feedback using the format in
feedback-getadvice/feedback-template.md. Ask me a question if
anything is missing.
MILO will help you shape it, and it will ask you for anything you left out, like which screen you were on. That back-and-forth is normal and good.
Do it now ✅
Let’s ship your first real piece of feedback.
- Open feedback-getadvice/README.md and read it.
- Open getadviceapp.com (or the GetAdvice iPhone app) and use it like a curious first-time visitor. Poke around. Try a real question. If you cannot open it, use your own project from
my-projects/and say so at the top of the note. - When something is confusing or broken, jot down your four answers: what you did, what you expected, what happened, and why it matters.
- Take a screenshot if it helps.
- Copy feedback-getadvice/feedback-template.md into a new file under
feedback-getadvice/notes/, fill it in (MILO can help with wording), and run the self-review checklist in the README.
One clear note is plenty. Quality beats quantity.
🎉 Milestone: you wrote your first structured feedback
You just did something real. You used an app, wrote down what happened, and checked your own note against the four questions. That is how professionals report a problem.
Builders build. Reviewers protect. Today you practiced both.
🏁 You finished the core path
Look at everything you can do now:
- You understand how the web works.
- You built a web page, styled it, and made it interactive.
- You started your own project.
- You save and back up your work with git and GitHub.
- You give feedback that a stranger could follow.
That is a complete, real foundation. Be proud. 🎉
What’s next
Level 1’s core path is done. Level 2 starts now, and it changes the rules: goals instead of recipes.
➡️ Open lessons/08-level-2-the-builders-track.md.
The wide map of every stage lives in roadmap.md whenever you want it.