When Failing Is an Option…but Only If It Happens Fast

Ask any member of NASA if the next space mission will succeed or fail and you’ll be met with a calm, cool response that “failure is not an option”. For a mission to the moon or to Mars or to Kepler-186f, one would tend to agree that you better get it right on the first attempt.

But, that statement neglects to include all the preparation and testingthe “10,000 ways that won’t work”, as Thomas Edison would put it,before finding the one that does. To which no statement rings truer in modern product development, especially digital products, than Edison’s words:

“Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.“

So, that begs the question: is failure an option? Better yet, is it actually a good thing to fail? Preferably less than 10,000 times, of course.

Well, failure (specifically, “failing fast”) is a key piece within Eric Ries’ The Lean Startupmethodology. A core component in the methodology is to “build-measure-learn”, which translates into what the methodology calls a minimum viable product (or, MVP). As part of the “feedback loop” within the “learn” phase of creating an MVP, failing fast comes into play. In short, the methodology preaches if you’re going to fail developing a product, fail early and often (again, preferably not 10,000 times) until you get it right by building, measuring and learning from each failure to create future success. In theory, this cuts down on development and testing cycles, the overall costs of the project, and time to market. It also allows for quicker and even real-time customer feedback, while avoiding the need to add every bell and whistle from the start, which allows users to evolve with the product over time. This, as we know, is mission critical to any product’s success.

While the general concept of failing fast has been around since the dawn of invention (a wee bit before Edison’s time), it really took off in 2012 when every aspiring entrepreneur and every company-changing intrapreneur took every word in The Lean Startup as bible. And, as with the bible, some translations are literal and others conceptual. To avoid heresy, let’s take a look at one example of failing fast in the conceptual light: Twitter.

The initial concept behind Twitter was an SMS-based communication platform, hence the iconic 140 characters, and was briefly called my.stat.us. In a blink of an eye, it became twttr, truly testing the concept of 140 character “tweets” now via the web. Then, a heartbeat later, it became Twitter with over 500 million users and your one-stop-shop for your fill of selfies, food porn, cat images, and the latest on #Kepler186f via your mobile device.

Twitter failed fast all along the way, allowing it to evolve at the speed of your internet connection, which led to the company’s eventual success. In fact, Inc.com’s interview with Twitter founder, Ev Williams, is apropos to that exact point:

“With Twitter, it wasn’t clear what it was. They called it a social network, they called it microblogging, but it was hard to define, because it didn’t replace anything. There was this path of discovery with something like that, where over time you figure out what it is. Twitter actually changed from what we thought it was in the beginning, which we described as status updates and a social utility.“

So, when is failing fast a good option? When trying to quickly, cheaply and effectively build-measure-learn if a product, whether physical or digital, has legs to succeed. When trying to understand if a product may fail and why. When trying to find a new audience or define a new space by having real-time feedback loops. When, frankly, you want to get something out into the marketplace as quickly as your idea is coming to you. In other words, failing fast is almost always a good option.

Just to be fair, when is failing fast a bad option? When taking a maiden voyage to Kepler-186f. But, if it’s a great idea, fail fast to succeed before you try to leave the planet.

What do you think? Post a comment to start the discussion.

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About the Author:

PJ Bickett is an entrepreneur, operator, advisor and a proud mentor, who has made a career innovating and branding in the digital, experience design and publishing spaces. He can typically be found forging a startup mentality for big brand clients looking to create bleeding-edge products, while evolving the business into more nimble operations.

When not in the office, you can find PJ on a field coaching one of his three sons’ sports activities or pitching in a 16” Chicago-style softball league.

Follow: @pjbickett