One of the reasons why I like Agile development is because it enables the team to manage risk and uncertainty. It also allows a team to learn from earlier iterations and improve processes.
Reading the blog “Are You Squandering Your Intelligent Failures?” made me think how closely an executive approach to learning from failure is similar to the approach taken by Agile teams. It’s funny how I never really read about Agile projects that failed, unless you count London Heathrow Terminal 5. Oh! and Toyota - The Wrong Lessons From Toyota's Recalls — And the Truth.
Will there be a time when Agile projects become too process driven and people lose sight of the original purpose of Agile. Then like Toyota the problems start to creep in because nobody feels able/willing to hit the stop button.
To have done everything possible to prevent failure and fail shouldn’t be considered bad. To repeatedly fail because of the same problem is definitely bad. What does it mean to fail even when the processes should prevent failure?
Some random blogs
Very good explanation of why organisation blow their brains out trying to meet share price expectations - Why CEOs Don't Owe Shareholders a Return on Market Value
It’s all too easy to forget simple rules about effective management, here is a reminder- Eight Things Your Employees Want From You
This is worth reading when considering innovation within your own organisation, just because it’s about starting your own business doesn’t mean it isn’t relevant to large organisations- The 2-Minute Opportunity Checklist for Entrepreneurs
