The 10/50/99 Framework: Most Feedback Isn't Wrong. It's the Timing.
If you’re like me, you have great friends who are terrible at making plans to actually see each other. Getting from “it would be great to connect this summer” to actually making it happen is hard.
So imagine that you've pulled it off. You've motivated a group of your best friends, bought tickets, rented the house, blocked off work, and your family has given you their blessing. You're headed for a week with your friends on the river! And then one of your friends, we'll call him Todd (every group has a Todd), drops into the group text a week before the trip starts and says, "What if we went to a pickleball resort instead?" WHAAAATTTT! Come on, Todd, we're going to the river!
Todd might have had a great idea, and it’s even possible it would have been a better trip, it lands terribly because it’s the wrong kind of feedback at the wrong stage.
Most feedback that lands poorly, at work or anywhere else, isn’t wrong. The timing is. We can blame the idea, or the person, for being difficult, defensive, or uninformed, but usually it’s none of the above. Todd is offering “where should we go?” type feedback at the final stage of planning. You’d be surprised by how often this happens, and once you see this pattern, you start to see it everywhere. From the agreed-upon plan suddenly getting questioned, to the strategic framework reopened over and over, to the launch that suddenly stalls or reverses at the last minute.
Enter the 10/50/99 feedback framework, one of the most useful tools I've seen for naming what you need, and for giving and receiving feedback not on behavior (for that, check out SBII), but on projects and collaboration. It can help move projects along much more smoothly and prevent you or others from being Todd in the group text.
I didn't invent the framework. I've seen it credited to Brennan McEachran, who shared it on his blog, and it’s definitely worth a read.
The core idea is simple: the stage you’re in determines what feedback belongs.
Let’s revisit our vacation planning:
10% Brainstorming: Where are we going, and what's the vibe? Beach and books, or twenty miles a day in the mountains? Five people or thirty? Are kids invited? This is when a completely different idea is welcome. Nothing's decided yet.
50% Taking Shape: The rough itinerary. Dates roughly set, transportation looked into but maybe not booked, and you've landed on the beach, not the mountains. At work, this is where the core pieces are coming together.
99% Final Edits: Booking the reservations, sharing the packing list, sorting out rides to the airport and who's bringing what. At work, this is checking the small details, from spelling to broken links.
This framework isn't about avoiding or ruling out feedback. It's about matching it to the stage the work is in. Todd's idea wasn't bad; it was just late and at the wrong stage. If he'd floated the pickleball resort back at 10%, when nothing was decided yet, he'd likely have gotten real enthusiasm instead of frustration, and it might have been the best idea in the room. Same idea, different stage, completely different reaction.
Each stage needs a different kind of feedback. Here's what each one asks of you.
The 10% stage: Brainstorming.
You’re at the beginning. The project is just a sketch or an outline. Any idea, as long as it’s pointed to the problem you’re trying to solve, is welcome. Naming that you're at this stage is one of the most helpful things you can do, because it tells people your thinking is still moldable and you want input on direction. Your work shouldn't look or be polished yet. It shouldn't show that you've poured hours into it. You're still working out the goals, the outcome, and the purpose. It's a high-level brief. "The problem I'm trying to solve is that we never spend time together as a group. Let's take an awesome trip in the next six months."
As a collaborator, useful feedback here looks like helping shape the scope, direction, and budget, and working toward alignment. For example, “I love this idea; I can carve out a long weekend in the spring.” Or, “I’d love to, but it would have to be near me because I can’t swing a flight right now.”
Take notes on what you have agreed to so you can reference them later. If you're the team leader, your input is crucial here. Let people know what you’ll support, and what you won’t. How does this project align with our goals? What budget or resources am I willing to put behind it? What are the non-negotiables? Help create a rough sketch of the goals, then trust your team to run with it and stay out of the way!
The 50% stage: Taking Shape
Start by reviewing the goals and notes you took in the 10% phase. As the owner, it’s super helpful to name the stage again: “We’re at 50%. What I need is your read on the overall shape, structure, and layout of the project, not the details.” This is the moment to bring in other people or teams, as long as they know what stage of the project they’re walking into. Critically, you still have time, ability, and interest to get insights from others to shape the final outcome, and that is exactly the point of this stage.
Helpful feedback here compares the draft to what you agreed to in the 10% stage. Does the itinerary deliver the goals you said you wanted? Or is it filling up? At work, it’s the same. Does this structure serve the goal we set? Is the flow right? Is anything important missing?
It's unhelpful at this stage to reopen the goals or the destination. And don’t get nitpicky yet; that’s the 99% stage, and that’s next.
99% Stage: The Final Edits
This is back to where we started. You’re about to leave on your trip, or the big project is just about to be launched, published, or sent out into the world. That is when feedback on the little details isn't just helpful; it's essential. You want your final product to be as excellent as possible, and all the little details can make or break it. And don’t worry, your team will be more than happy to point this stuff out; some of them have been holding back just for this moment!
Feedback at this stage is often best left to the people closest to the work, the content experts on your team, which may or may not be you. As a leader, you're welcome to weigh in, but you probably have less context and less investment than the folks who built it, so tread lightly. Well-meant feedback here can be read as micromanaging, out of touch, or worse, Todd-like. Your real job at 99% is to make sure the feedback in the room fits the stage, for everyone.
The 99% stage tends to be a lot, and people love giving input on small things, partly because it shows their expertise, and partly because in that last percentage point, things can get a lot better for the problem you set out to solve in the first place.
A few ways to make this stick with your team
Adopting this as a shared language is the easy part. Have folks read this article, and then start naming, out loud, or in a doc, what stage they’re at and what kind of feedback would actually help.
Knowing how people prefer feedback helps a lot here too, and DiSC can be a useful tool.
Some folks are wired to catch small details, which is very helpful at 99% and tough at 10%. Others move fast and want to go from 10 to 99 as fast as possible, and might struggle to take the time to get others on board. If you don’t use DiSC, just ask folks how they prefer feedback. It’s one of the most effective leadership moves out there.
Calling it out matters, and not just from the top. When anyone names that a piece of feedback doesn’t fit the stage, it protects both the people in the room and the project itself.
And, finally, bring self-awareness. Are you being the Todd here? If you’re blowing up a project or spreading frustration, it’s worth asking yourself honestly whether the feedback you’re giving is more about you than the project.
Why it really matters
The 10/50/99 framework looks like it’s about efficiency, and to a large extent it is. It saves you from rework and from valuable feedback that arrives at the wrong time. But that’s not the real reason it matters.
It matters because it lets you name the stage you’re in and get feedback that keeps the work moving. It also gives you permission to show drafted work, work that isn’t perfect yet, and work you haven’t fallen in love with yet. When we are in love with what we’ve created, it can be much harder to accept feedback from others openly and honestly. The more we are in love with our creation, the harder it gets to hear feedback that would make it even better.
The leadership work is to build a team where everyone feels psychologically safe enough to show work that isn’t done yet, and safe enough to give feedback that’s about the work,not about them or you. If you can get your team aligned and supportive, where constructive feedback is welcomed and incorporated in service of the best possible outcome, everyone wins, especially the people you are trying to serve in the first place. And it doesn’t just protect you from Todd; it keeps you from being Todd, because we’ve all been Todd. If the tickets are booked and everyone’s committed, your pickleball idea isn’t feedback. It’s a wrecking ball or a collective sigh (or worse) from the group.
A good idea at the wrong stage isn’t as helpful as you think, and it can be a real problem. The fix often isn’t better ideas; it’s getting clear, as a team, about where you are and what you need to make the best work.
A few reflection questions:
What would have to be true for someone to bring you a real 10% draft, the messy version, instead of something they’ve polished and overprepared?
Think about the last time you were Todd. What made you miss your window to share your idea earlier, and what would have to be true for you to share earlier?
As a leader in your organization, which stage do you think you add the most value, and what would your team say?
