A sommelier won't accept "this wine tastes bad." They make you find the actual word — too much oak, not enough acid, finish drops dead after two seconds. Vague complaint in, specific defect out.

I used to get "it's just not popping" from a client and translate that into nothing. Add a shadow. Bump the contrast. Hope. Round two, same note, worse mood on both sides.

Now vague feedback gets the same treatment. What specifically — hierarchy, motion timing, whitespace? Sometimes I hand the raw note to Claude first and ask which concrete lever the client's probably pointing at, then check that guess against what I actually know about the project before touching anything.

Half of "let's do another round" turns into a five-minute fix once someone names the actual defect instead of the feeling.

What's the vaguest feedback you've ever had to decode?