You’re Doing it Wrong

Shamira (aka me)

I play World of Warcraft. One thing that fascinates me about WoW is how much learning happens in-game… mostly informally.

Monday night, my guild tried five times to down a boss we’ve killed easily before. Our leaders explained and encouraged. Repeatedly. Before we quit, one mentioned that some people weren’t executing, even those who had before. I spoke up.

“I know you don’t want to embarrass anyone, but will you tell people privately if they aren’t doing it right?”

“If you aren’t doing xyz, you aren’t doing it right.”

I was doing xyz. But other people might not be able to evaluate their own performance in the heat of battle… right? “What if people can’t tell?”

Pause. “Okay, fair enough.”

Incoming private message: “You’re doing it wrong.” D’oh!

How long do you wait to tell people they’re doing it wrong? Why?