To nitpick is to “give too much importance to unimportant detail”.
Everyone has a different Nitpick Line.
Depending on our field of study, the people who coached us, or whether we had a cup of coffee this morning, all of it can affect where we draw our line, and where we draw the line for others.
But I’ve learnt something over the past few years. If we approach a nitpick situation with (1) an assumption the other person has good intent, and (2) that they may know something we don’t (which in almost all cases, they will), we can use their feedback improve our craft. This even works for the things we disagree with—we just update our mental model, tastes, and heuristics for next time.
And when it’s our turn to give feedback, we should (1) think deeply about what’s critical vs. what is a nitpick, (2) pull no punches on the important stuff, and (3) get comfortable with everyone else’s Nitpick Line always being a little different to our own.