SUCCESS AND FAILURE: Do Not Always Exist

Success and failure are fundamental yet often subjective concepts.

Criteria for success and failure in reaching the endpoint can be easily formulated and inspected only at the bottom (i.e., task) tier. There is no space to “fail forward” in jobs of this kind—a dirty floor is a failure. If you want to change the tires on a car and come to a garage, you do not expect anybody to “fail forward” at your expense. You pay a person who has learned already and now will do the job with the demanded level of quality.

However, in many endeavors, the best you can get is the goodwill to achieve the result. For example, an entrepreneur can hire an accountant and demand her to prepare the counting expertly (a task), but it is hard to demand that the entrepreneur’s company will have clients and be a success (a goal). The endpoints differ qualitatively.

Thus, when judging, we must understand what type of endpoint we aim at, not treating learning as a failure, yet demanding results where they are due.

Representatives of many jobs will claim more uncertainty than it is appropriate. You frequently encounter it when dealing with subcontractors. They would say, “We try to do it in X days, but we are unsure, so please pay us hourly wages. We will charge Y working, but if something goes wrong and we have to redo, it would cost Z.” Not surprisingly, “something” certainly goes wrong.

Understand the endpoint’s type and establish clear criteria for success and failure where possible.

{EXPERT, ECPM, ENDPOINT TIERS, FAIL FORWARD, ADEQUACY, EXPECTANCY, PROJECT: A PARAMEDIC APPROACH}