I was having lunch with a friend several weeks ago when the topic of success came up. We discussed factors in a person’s life which can be predictors of success, and the concept of failing faster (which includes testing your theories, learning from your mistakes, and moving to the next idea) was near the top of our list. Other names by which you may know this concept are “Fail Better,” “Fail Forward,” and “Fail Fast, Fail Often.”
Should you always fail fast?
“Failing faster” shouldn’t be used in every situation. The cost of each potential “fail” must be analyzed before you make the decision. If you and your spouse have a disagreement, you shouldn’t run to the courthouse for a divorce. If your new business is taking longer to get off the ground than you anticipated, you shouldn’t immediately throw in the towel. But if you’re trying to find the best marketing strategy for your product, failing faster is a good formula. If you’re trying to justify keeping that unproductive employee, failing faster works. Take the story of Thomas Edison as he worked to find the right filament for his early light bulb. After trying over 700 materials, which all failed, Edison finally found the solution to his problem. When he was later questioned about his 700 failures, he said “I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
In the boardroom
Over the past few years, while running my own business and while coaching other businesses, I’ve been a “student of the decision.” In many cases, I’ve seen leaders make up to 50 decisions every day.* The best leaders know that while some decisions require an extensive amount of thought and planning, many just require a decision. Sometimes even a wrong decision is better than no decision at all (actually, no decision is a decision). One of my favorite sayings is “It’s hard to steer a parked car.” Do your homework, get input from your team, trust your gut, and make the call.
Should you try to fail?
No. And if you’re asking this question, then you have the wrong idea about failing faster. Failing faster allows us to try new things, understand what worked and what didn’t, modify our approach, and try again. Don’t be so paralyzed by data analysis that you don’t make a decision (remember that no decision is a decision). If you don’t like the phrase “fail fast,” call it innovation, call it R&D, or like we do, create a “skunkworks” team dedicated to testing as many theories as possible.
*Bonus
If you feel like you have to make too many decisions each day, I would suggest delegating non-critical decisions using a decision matrix. For more information on the decision matrix, go to www.ryangiles.com/videos