Fast Failure Today

Way back in the distant past, I received the tutelage of a chap that'd done plenty of terrific things. One of which was running a course on the Harvard MBA. It was called CTC83 and I've blogged touching on him before. Yep, twenty years back.

I was reminded of this over a bottle of red helping a friend of mine dissect a knotty business issue of their own.

This trope has come quite the distance in the decades since. Interpretations seem to have matured. After all, who thinks in that classic ol' Zuck way of 'move fast and break things' alone anymore?

When this morphed into a hashtag, momentum of proponent philosophy was perhaps more aimed at startup success than from a strategic planning viewpoint.

But within felt first steps to codify as part of strategic planning.

#FailFast aimed to produce an iterative, focused process. For those with a sense of urgency and the need to move swiftly from strategy to execution.

Also seeking to banish the sunk cost fallacy. So you no longer want to continue investing time and money into something that isn't working for your company.

And removing the blinkers. Sometimes you just need to try different things – if one thing doesn’t work or isn’t gaining traction the way you think it should, then move on and test out your next strategy or tactic.

Sadly, the jargoneers (or should that be jargonistas?) have got hold of it lately.

Get 'pivoting before losing too much capital', anyone?

At least I myself have not actually heard 'we're pivoting our paradigm', 'directional correctness', or 'failing forward'.

Although the term 'sunsetting' is creeping in. Gaining a general amplify right now by Tesla's planned obsolescence of a pair of models around a dozen years old.

What this all meant with my conversation included much of its 'trad' elements;

plan for something not going as hoped (according to plan)
remember, if it's true that only 1 in 10 brand new products succeed...
how you'll recognise failure and cut, quick if required
steel yourself for no emotional drawn out hanging on
'keep, amend, discard'

That latter mantra reminds of the best-practice iterative nature.

Building in a couple of the more recent pointers.

Principally around blast radius and stable infrastructure.

The former confines any damage from said sudden stop. Ensuring guardrails (another term du jour) minimise nay negate any fallout and from building your 'containment dome' (yes...) around innovation.

The latter features tightly defined budgets, individual responsibilities and operating arenas. My non-negotiable though, being our core sales process (as I define it).

I've noted an emerging rebrand; smart experimentation. Each generation reinvents to their own.

Whatever you call it, in Sales it remains a key construct to propel us towards sustainable, repeatable and growing success.