Why is a four-letter f-word so bad?? To fail is to evolve.

It is a widely used statistic that 70% of projects fail to deliver what they promised to customers.? I would argue that this isn’t a failure of project management, but rather of expectation management.? In fact, I would go so far as to say 100% of projects should be designed to end in failure.? It’s just that customer expectations should have been met before that point.

There are a number of reasons I say this.? Firstly, failure is the best teacher.? We improve and develop by understanding failure and overcoming the obstacles to our success.? I don’t mean in some arbitrary “lessons learned” document that gets submitted at the end that no-one ever looks at again.? I mean in a very real and existential way that informs how we act in any given situation.? It’s about personal development.? If you succeed at doing something first time, maybe you’ve learned that particular technique, but the next time you do it, what then? Or the time after, or the time after that?? Nothing, nada, diddly, bupkis, squat.

?Furthermore, projects are usually a development into the unknown.? What better opportunity to push the boundaries of our understanding than by pushing to the point of failure?? And not only the ultimate goal, but all the steps along the way that invariably need doing because they have not been done before.? Why not push the envelope there as well?? Let’s be honest, workload in the NHS isn’t going down.? We need to understand the limits of our enterprises to enable us to more efficiently update or change the process when the time comes.? Not to mention that we will have personnel who are able to learn from the process more efficaciously and not run when someone mentions the f-word.

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OK, for all of you PRINCE2 and whathaveyou acolytes who pull out your copies of uptodate risks and issues logs, yes, we work in health and care and certain aspects must be protected from failure.? However, and wherever possible, we should be creating a project environment which protects users from disaster whilst facilitating opportunities for failure. Sure, manage the failures, protect the careers of the participants, use a framework for controlled failure, but if we don’t find the point of failure, how do we know if we can improve?? If we don’t know if we can improve, what are the chances of trying to again?

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Failure is the only thing that really facilitates success.

“I know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and impossible. The fact that something seems impossible shouldn't be a reason to not pursue it, that's exactly what makes it worth pursuing. Where would the courage and greatness be if success was certain and there was no risk. The only true failure is shrinking away from life's challenges.” Friedrich Nietzsche, Nachlass (1900)