Peerbot: Timely Feedback + Peer-to-Peer Learning and Support Made Simple

At Revelry, our team knows great workplaces don’t just happen. Great workplaces are created and sustained through intentional practices that encourage learning, feedback, and recognition; they blossom and grow when individuals at all levels and across all functional areas share, support, and champion one another. This is why we created Peerbot, an innovative new Slack tool (inspired by Revelry’s own core values) that makes peer-to-peer learning, feedback, and celebration simple. 

The Genesis of Peerbot

The idea for Peerbot sprouted from practices deeply rooted in Revelry’s culture. We had long been celebrating each other’s successes with simple Slack shoutouts; sharing weekly learned insights (TWILs); and providing constructive peer-to-peer feedback through less automated channels, like Google Forms. Realizing the importance of these fundamental gestures to camaraderie and growth, we decided to build a dedicated platform to manage them. Peerbot emerged from the need for a holistic tool that not only made giving props more impactful, but also melded two other significant practices into one unified, trackable solution. Even better: Peerbot easily integrates with Slack.

The Anatomy of Peerbot

Each of Peerbot’s features is the manifestation of a Revelry core value (and in some cases, two!):

• Shoutouts = Revel In Victory
• TWILs (aka This Week I Learned) = Fear is the Mind Killer
• Peer Feedback = Earn and Dispense Trust and Be Excellent to Each Other

Shoutouts

Peerbot Shoutouts make it easy for teams to celebrate victories, no matter how big or small. An individual simply:

• Clicks the Peerbot app within your organization’s Slack
• Under Shoutout, clicks “Give a Shoutout”
• Selects the Slack channel in which they want their Shoutout to appear
• Selects the colleague(s) they want to praise
• Determines whether they want their praise to be personalized or anonymous
• Adds a personal message
• Clicks “Submit” 

Boom! The team member’s message of thanks and/or appreciation is out there for your entire team to see and support.

TWILs

Peerbot TWILs encourage both individual and collective sharing and learning. TWILs are rooted in our strong belief that education is an ongoing process, and that insights and ideas can originate from any member of the team. As with Shoutouts, sharing a TWIL is easy, just:

• Click the Peerbot app within your organization’s Slack
• Under TWIL, click “Share Something”
• Select the Slack channel in which you want your TWIL to appear
• In the “What Did You Learn?” space, enter your nugget of information 
• Click “Submit” 

Peer Feedback

Peer Feedback allows a safe space for individuals to anonymously offer both positive feedback and constructive criticism, but with back-end safeguards to help ensure appropriate and helpful sharing.

• Click the Peerbot app within your Slack
• Under Peer Feedback, click “Share Feedback”
• Select the teammate for whom you want to offer feedback
• Associate your feedback with a core value
• Offer suggestions in two fields: “What should they do more of” and “What should they do less of”
• Click “Submit” to send your anonymous feedback to your company’s Peerbot admin, who will guide next steps

Peer Feedback: Managing Anonymity with Care

An integral consideration in the creation of the Peer Feedback functionality was the sensitive nature of anonymity. Feedback serves as a powerful catalyst for improvement when delivered respectfully and constructively. Peerbot manages this delicately by:

• Anonymizing feedback – down to the database level – to create a safe space for honest communication
  • We don’t store any information about who has left a piece of feedback, or even at what time. It is truly anonymous. This is all in an effort to prevent backlash for those contributing feedback. The goal is to encourage honesty, which we believe will lead to team members’ professional growth and development.
• Allowing your company’s designated managers to screen feedback to ensure its constructive and appropriate, before reaching the intended recipient. This is intended as a stop-gap to prevent abuse of the anonymity of the system.
• Empowering anyone to offer insights at any time, with assurance that their identity will remain confidential and the feedback offered is valid and beneficial

The Evolution of Peerbot

Since its inception, Peerbot has evolved to include a plethora of other features and functionality that amplify its usability and benefits, including:

• A friendly web interface for accessibility beyond Slack
• Intuitive slash commands for ease of interaction within Slack
• A comprehensive Slack app home page that keeps all Peerbot features readily available
• An Admin Dashboard that allows admins to export CSV reports for shoutouts and feedback
• Ability (from the Admin Dashboard) to search and filter historical Shoutouts, TWILs and Feedback for the entire team
• Slack reminders, so managers can nudge team members to leave feedback for their peers. There’s also an automated notification every two weeks for the whole team, reminding them to leave feedback for their peers in general.

It should be noted that Peerbot is all of this and much more. Peerbot is also a time capsule, chronicling triumphs and lessons learned that would otherwise be lost in the ether of digital communication. It encourages you to remember the collective journey, reinforcing the idea that every small step forward is a part of a larger narrative.

The Right Tech Stack for the Job

Leveraging the robustness of Elixir / Phoenix / LiveView, Peerbot benefits from a stack that supports real-time features (like those mentioned above) elegantly. Elixir, built on the reliable Erlang platform, is particularly fitting for applications where seamless communication and concurrency are vital. Real-time updates on Shoutouts and TWILs on the web interface – as they’re being entered on Slack – illustrate the dynamism and interactivity that Elixir brings to Peerbot.

Beta and Beyond: Rollout to the World

Peerbot is currently in its public beta phase, with Revelry keenly observing usage patterns, collecting user feedback, and fine-tuning the app. The vision for Peerbot is to translate Revelry’s internal positivity and productivity to other organizations, helping to build workplaces that prioritize and honor collaborative success and individual growth.

From a simple initiative to foster recognition among peers, to an application empowering others to build a positive work environment, Peerbot personifies Revelry’s commitment to creating more than just software; we’re in the business of engineering environments where people can thrive and feel valued, one brick at a time.

To participate in Peerbot’s public beta phase, connect with us.

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Culture Elixir Leadership PJ Diiorio Rebecca Alexander