Guilherme CalobaProduction Engineer| PETROBRASRio De Janeiro, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
I have some experience in R&D projects, and for a while we had this mantra of failing cheap and failing fast. Are you familiar with this concept? What do you think about it? We did it in a waterfall environment, and a "fast fail" would take some three to six months, at least. When you are doing agile project management, does the adaptative nature makes it hard to fail, at least when you consider scope?
I think it's great. By failing fast we invariably fail cheap. I think Agile reduces the chance of failure, but that really isn't the point. The point is to fail (make mistakes) early so we can either correct them and move on, accept/ignore them and move on, or cancel the project. Saving Changes...
Cesar FiestasTechnical Project Leader| Intuitive ProjectsNewport Beach, Ca, United States
Sante,
I just want to say that i loved the way how you simply described the process. But what you are saying could be interpreted as "all companies and teams should failed first?". I think the point is not fail, but make small mistakes, correct them, and learn from them and continue with the project, what do you think?
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1 reply by Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
Oct 06, 2018 12:47 AM
Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD
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Cesar, yes we don't want to fail all the time. The precedent in this question presumes something has already failed, is failing, or is about to fail, and in that regard, we always want to fail fast.
Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
As Sante points out, the two are interrelated. Agile's iterative nature with its inherent feedback loop allows for teams to adjust/correct course without going too far down the wrong path. Saves $ and time, both from a delivery standpoint, as well as from a business aspect. The goal is an MVP in which can go to market - generating revenue. Saving Changes...
Cesar FiestasTechnical Project Leader| Intuitive ProjectsNewport Beach, Ca, United States
Andrew,
But i think an MVP is a bit different than a full blown project unless I misunderstood. Which yes if the goal is an MVP then i am completely in agreenment with the process. Saving Changes...
Al TaylorI.T. Contractor| IndependentWaterloo, Ontario, Canada
great question...good discussion.....@Cesar I liked your first reply. I get fail early and cheap but sometimes find the notion semantical....I mean in the end we have to succeed right? Saving Changes...
Fail fast is not an excuse for a lack of discipline, vision, or basic planning. Good agile delivery does promote exploring key areas of uncertainty earlier in the life of a project but it also champions the cause of quality architecture and design.
I just want to say that i loved the way how you simply described the process. But what you are saying could be interpreted as "all companies and teams should failed first?". I think the point is not fail, but make small mistakes, correct them, and learn from them and continue with the project, what do you think?
Cesar, yes we don't want to fail all the time. The precedent in this question presumes something has already failed, is failing, or is about to fail, and in that regard, we always want to fail fast. Saving Changes...
VASUDEV NARAYANANProgram Manager| Pentapolis FoundationChennai, Tamil Nadu, India
The term and definition of "fail fast and fail cheap" would differ based on the organization structure.
The fate of a startup or product-based organization is determined by its target market and by its target customer. Understanding the market is essential and crucial. This means, for a startup or for a product, creating a failure plan is necessary. Kindly note, there is a difference between failure plan and failover plan.
Here, "fail fast" means, getting feedback from the market and from the customers. There are various ways to get this done. But the feedback you receive will help in releasing a product with a shorter time cycle - read it as "fail cheap."
As a service provider, I cannot take the risk in applying this technique with my Client. It would be a disaster. Saving Changes...
Greg GithensAuthor, "How to Think Strategically." Executive & Leadership Coach| Catalyst & Cadre LLCLakewood Ranch, Fl, United States
Experimenting is essential to innovation and strategy. Absolutely, there is value in continual experimenting with low cost of failures. Then fail fast and learn from it. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
I will try to extend Mr Kiron´s comments above. In fact, one of the reasons that becomes popular in the last years is because Mr. Sutherland last book: "Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time". I was in a one week workshop with him where he explained and shown in practice that the phase was misunderstanding and taken literally what is wrong. So, while I can write a lot about the topic due to is something that came from lot time ago my recommendation is taking the book, read about that and you will have the answer. The book is cheapest and you can find it in kindle. Just to comment, is not the only piece of work that can explain about that but I think is a good source mainly for the lot of practical examples inside it. Saving Changes...
