Are you and your engineers hiding under a rock, avoiding errors and protecting yourselves? Or are you experimenting, trying new ideas without fear of failure?
At last week’s live event on being bold, I challenged the group to consider two axes on which they need to move to get to greater courageousness: their engineer’s self-belief in their skills, and the organisation’s support for innovation.
We agreed that most companies find themselves on the left side of this chart. Real deadline pressures and frustrations with slow delivery mean that others demand control and predictability from the tech team, not boldness. If you’re stuck there too, try shock therapy: adopt a “failure budget” with a specific target for adverse outcomes (I like to call these “successful experiments with a negative result”). When engineers are trying to fail with your blessing, they feel there is plenty of opportunity for it and a safety net – in other words, they think abundantly.
This first appeared in my weekly Squirrel Squadron email which goes out every Monday and was originally posted on 9 May 2022. To get my provocative thoughts and tips direct to your inbox first, sign up here: https://squirrelsquadron.com/