3 ways to benefit from things going wrong
Martin Hodges
Software Engineering Manager | Builder of strong, diverse teams | Inspired to deliver the next innovation
You have probably heard the saying, 'you learn from your mistakes', well I believe it is is more accurate to say 'you learn when things go wrong'. But if this is true, it is when everything is falling apart around you that you need to be prepared to learn the most.
Mistakes vs things going wrong
It is true that we do learn more from our mistakes than our successes but sometimes things just don't go to plan and we have not made any mistakes.
Things can go wrong for a number of reasons that are beyond our control or sphere of influence:
One thing all the factors have in common is that they all occur unexpectedly.
A friend of mine claims there is no such thing as an accident as everything can be prevented. Whether you believe this or not, there are some risks that are so expensive to mitigate and so unlikely to occur that, even with the potential for significant impact, you are not at liberty to avoid them.
So things will go wrong. They will be out of your control. You may not be able to achieve your goals or you might have to turn left instead of right.
Whatever the cause and whatever the result, it is when things go wrong that you learn the most.
Capturing the moment
You may be watching the train approaching, you may be in the middle of the train wreck or you may be cleaning up the aftermath. No matter where you are at, it is important to capture the moment.
Capturing this experience is difficult but very important. It is always worth creating some handwriting some notes or even dot points, characterising what you are seeing.
Why handwriting? Surely in this day and age, using a computer is far more effective? Actually it isn't. The physical process of writing requires the brain to process things and save them to memory far more effectively than when you use a computer.
When you type into a computer, you are delegating the storage and recall to the computer. You also don't have to get things right first time as you can correct later (if you get round to it). Your brain becomes lazy and it fails to process things sufficiently to capture the experience. And the idea that the computer remembers forever? Well that may be true but we all carry so much digital garbage around that it is often hard to find the information we are looking for, lading to this information being lost in plain sight.
In her book on cultural change, Walking the Talk, Carolyn Taylor uses the imagery of a dance floor and suggests that whilst you are on the floor dancing, you should also be in the balcony watching the dance. She uses this to explain that whilst you are in the midst of running the business, you should also find time to observe yourself doing so and learn how you are performing and what changes you need to make.
This is true of many situations, including when things go wrong. Take some time to think about what you are doing, how you are reacting and what you could be doing differently to help the situation. This is not a 'after the fact review' but something you do as you are doing your work. It takes a bit of practice but can be very helpful skill in many situations.
The train is approaching
You have probably been here. Your spider senses are tingling and when you look around, you start to see the problem ahead. You feel unable to stop the train or even slow it. The crash is imminent.
This is the most important time to be vigilant and to start learning. If you learn what is happening around you now, then next time it happens, you will be more prepared and know what to do. After all, how many people have said 'with hindsight I should have ...'? Well next time you recognise a similar situation starting to occur, you should be able to kick your 'hindsight' into gear and use it.
So what to look for?
These all contribute to those spider senses triggering the alarm that the train is coming down the tracks towards the landslide at full steam. People have seen it and started to react but have not yet started putting on the brakes.
Capturing this experience is difficult but very important. It is always worth creating some handwriting some notes or even dot points, characterising what you are seeing.
Why handwriting? Surely in this day and age, using a computer is far more effective? Actually it isn't. The physical process of writing requires the brain to process things and save them to memory far more effectively than when you use a computer.
When you type into a computer, you are delegating the storage and recall to the computer. You don't have to get things right first time as you can correct later. Your brain becomes lazy and it fails to process things sufficiently to capture the experience. And the idea that the computer remembers forever? Well that may be true but we all carry so much digital garbage around that it is often hard to find the information we are looking for.
In her book on cultural change, Walking the Talk, Carolyn Taylor uses the imagery of a dance floor and suggests that whilst you are on the floor dancing, you should also be in the balcony watching the dance. She uses this to explain that whilst you are in the midst of running the business, you should also find time to observe yourself and learn how you are performing and what changes you need to make.
This is true of many situations, including when things go wrong. Take some time to think about what you are doing, how you are reacting and what you could be doing differently to help the situation. This is not a 'after the fact review' but something you do as you are doing your work. It takes a bit of practice but can be very helpful skill in many situations.
Crunch time
You felt it coming but were actually unprepared for the actual wreck. Now it is happening. You are trying your best to manage the situation and to limit its impacts.
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When things went very badly during the Apollo 13 mission, It was suggested to Gene Kranz, the flight director, that this might be the darkest moment for NASA. He replied 'No this is going to be our finest hour.'
No this is going to be our finest hour.
Gene Kranz, NASA Flight Director
This reflects the best of humankind. During times of disasters, we become so focused on resolving the situation that all obstacles are removed and fade away. We actually achieve remarkable outcomes that would never have been believed possible beforehand.
This is important to realise. When you are in the midst of this wreck, you need to watch and learn about what is happening about you. You need to be observant. It is at times like this that people and company values really come out and what happens may shock you. It is highly likely that the values espoused during town hall meetings and on web sites are not the ones actually at play.
It is now that you will find out who has your back and who doesn't.
As everything flies around you, you can observe a great many things that you should take with you to your next wreck:
Sounds like a crazy time and it can be. The aim is to reduce the amount of craziness as quickly as possible, get over the shock and start to fix and remediate the problem.
Having been through this experience, you should ensure that you are much better prepared for the next one. After all, we are only employed to solve problems and that will take up the majority of our working lives.
These things can be learnt regardless of whether you are directly involved, partially involved or just a bystander. Observe what is happening and see what improves the situation and what does not.
The sweep up
So the panic of the crunch is over and the service is back on the tracks, possibly limping along. This is when things actually start to heat up.
Many stakeholders will want to know what happened, why it happened, who is to blame and what is being done to stop it happening next time? The pressure will be on to answer these questions as soon as possible. This is with good intentions as the stakeholders what to ensure that investments are protected but it can lead to witch hunts and blame games.
These things will happen but, so long as you are no the instigator or the receiver of such questions, you have more to learn.
You will undoubtedly find many references to 'Root Cause Analysis' or RCAs. To me this is a bit of a misguided term. Every effect has a cause. You can follow this cause and effect chain back so far that you disappear into obscurity.
I like to call it the Primary Cause Analysis, reflecting the fact that you only need follow the chain for as far as you have influence.
For example, the fact that someone's car had a puncture leading to them having to get the train that was cancelled leading to them getting to work late leading them to miss the meeting to tell them what they need to do next leading to them doing the wrong thing... does not mean you have to ensure every employee has a spare tyre. You only need to go back to the primary cause for the business, which was the fact that someone ddi not attend a critical meeting and was not, therefore, brought up to date.
Learning where to stop with the primary cause is a very important skill. Don't go back far enough and you will not prevent a future wreck. Go back too far and you will not prevent a future wreck.
There are many resources on the Internet for undertaking these types of investigations. It is popular to go 5 layers back with the '5 Whys' process. This reflects the fact that people are generally not looking deep enough. Whilst 5 levels may be statistically significant, it may be too many or not enough.
You should look at each failure with the aim of finding the changes you need to make to avoid the train wreck happening again. Look for the primary cause(s).
Of course it is easy to say that this should be done without the aim of finding out who is to blame. In reality, it can be due to someone's mistake but you should also be open to the fact that there are many reasons for it happening that are not down to an individual.
Even if it is down to the performance of an individual (or even a team), it should be approached in a non-adversarial way to ensure people remain open and truthful. It is only this way you will get to the primary cause.
Summary
You learn most when things go wrong. When things do go wrong, the stress of managing what is happening can mean you miss the lessons. You should learn to become mindful of what is happening around you, how you are reacting and what is happening as a result.
Take handwritten notes to help you process this wealth of experience.
And take them before the crunch, during the crunch and after the crunch. Take them with the aim of telling your future self what you should do to avoid the crunch happening next time you see it down the line.
By ensuring that you learn from things going wrong, they will become less traumatic and reduce anxiety for the future.
Remember though, should you be overwhelmed by anything that is happening, seek advice and assistance from those that can help.