SBI Feedback Model
by Paige Costello • Product Lead, Core Product at Asana
Paige Costello is a Product Lead at Asana, overseeing the core product experience including desktop, web, and mobile apps. Previously, she served as Director of Product at Intercom and spent over five years as a Group Product Manager at Intuit.
🎙️ Episode Context
Paige Costello shares her strategies for building trust as a young leader, coaching product managers through example, and evolving product processes at scale. She discusses Asana's unique planning cycles, their implementation of the Double Diamond framework, and how to deliver effective feedback using the SBI model.
Problem It Solves
Delivering difficult feedback without causing defensiveness or damaging relationships.
Framework Overview
A framework learned at Intuit that structures feedback into three objective components: Situation, Behavior, and Impact. This moves feedback from judgment ('you were rude') to subjective observation ('I felt unheard').
🧠 Framework Structure
Situation: Anchor in time and place. ...
Behavior: Describe the observable act...
Impact: Describe the result or feelin...
Subjectivity: Acknowledge that the im...
When to Use
During 1:1s, performance reviews, or immediately after a friction point occurs.
Common Mistakes
Mixing judgment with behavior (e.g., saying 'you were aggressive' instead of 'you raised your voice').
Real World Example
Paige uses this to give feedback on everything from communication style to work attire, ensuring the recipient understands the specific impact of their actions.
It delivers feedback as a subjective observation. It's not what the camera recorded, it's what you experienced.
— Paige Costello