Fail Fast: Why failure is a part of success?!

Do you know what “Fail Fast” means? The “Fail Fast” principle, well-known among technology companies, encourages constant experimentation with projects to identify which ideas are truly valuable.

This concept seeks to eliminate the negative connotation that the word “failure” has acquired in our society, starting to associate it with a learning journey, fundamental for success in everything we do, and helps businesses not to spend months and months thinking and planning something that, in the end, might meet the company’s desire, but not the customer’s.

Typical of the culture of Silicon Valley and startups around the world, it means a practice of quickly testing new ideas, changes, projects, breaking the line of long planning, which would normally only be tested at the end, after all the variables analyzed, discussed and awake.

All of this is done without an error-chasing culture. Testing more makes more mistakes, but the faster you find the error, the faster you can adapt and move on.

This concept has been applied in several branches of the economy, mainly in the technological area. In general, the philosophy is very well accepted by companies that want to deliver projects incrementally, that is, not making a 100% finished product available on the market, but the first version of a larger product, subject to adjustments and improvements until reaching the final version.

One of the most important goals of Fail Fast is to avoid what we know as the Sunk Cost Effect, a theory that addresses the consequences of the human tendency to avoid failure and, precisely because of this, to continue investing in an idea that clearly does not it’s working. The Fail Fast philosophy seeks to demystify this concept of failure that we have intrinsic and assign it the connotation of learning, emphasizing that the knowledge acquired from a failed attempt considerably increases the probability of success in a future project.

FAIL FAST

Continuous experimentation makes it possible to fail quickly and then start a learning process.

FAIL EARLY

With immediate feedback, it is possible to discover in advance what is not working in the strategy.

FAIL OFTEN

The greater the number of tests, the greater the learning opportunities.

FAIL BETTER

With failures happening regularly and quickly, the chances of learning are maximized.

Agile Transformation

The concept of “fail fast, learn faster” is directly related to agile methodologies. An efficient way to execute projects applying adaptive planning, continuous improvement, independent and multidisciplinary teams. SCRUM, Lean and Kanban are some of the tools used in the method.

It is worth mentioning that having agility is different from having speed.

Being agile means being easily adaptable. To put it simply: a bullet train has high speed, but it does not have the flexibility to make turns and detours that are not foreseen in its route. While a leopard has the ability to run quickly, jump and change paths whenever he needs to during a hunt. The leopard is agile and should be our reference.

What is important to clarify is that, in fact, agility does not mean lack of control, not even planning. The obsession is not in the perfect and time-consuming result, but in the truly practical result for those who will enjoy it.

We live in a world of frantic changes, transformations happen at the speed of light. Therefore, the concept of “fail fast, learn faster”, combined with agile methodologies, is essential for the survival of companies. Since making mistakes drives innovation, provides rapid adaptation to digital evolution, frees organizations from the fear of risking new solutions for the market and teaches institutions to listen to the customer.

Is it good to be in a hurry?

The only step in a business where Fail Fast doesn’t apply is when it comes to the scalability of a product. In a practical example, it doesn’t pay to sell a software in droves without even being sure that it will be able to receive intense traffic. Therefore, it is essential to analyze this critical point well, because if the product does not hold up, the company will hardly be able to repair the error.

Either way, it’s important to keep in mind that the competition is in a hurry and so are your most significant contributors. If you don’t have and don’t invest in this concept, your idea will probably be left behind. In such an optimized market and intense stocks, there is no room for complacent and carefree companies. The order is really to go fast.

At the end…

In the end, it doesn’t matter what term your company chooses to use, as long as the concept is clear. Making mistakes is part of the learning process. All testing should be directed towards building more value and measured process steps.

I also recommend reading these two books:

• Fail Fast, Fail Often: How Losing Can Help You Win, of the authors Ryan Babineaux and John Krumboltz.
• Startup Enxuta, by the author Eric Ries.

Enjoy :)