When a team fails.

Failure Stinks!

I continue to assert that software development is one of the most misunderstood professions in the business world.  Numerous executives think what we do is magic or do not understand the creative nature of the activity.  It is not like working on an assembly line or collecting accounts payable.  There is plenty of uncertainty and opportunities for failure.  As a scrum master and coach, you have to deal with the failure of your agile team along with the personal failures that inevitably crop up in your career.

The saying in the agile community is that you should “fail early and fail often,” because failure is a brutal and efficient means of learning.  The notion of failure conflicts with the “cult of success” preached by motivational speakers.  It also contradicts notions of winning promoted in sports journalism.  I believe the failures in my life and career have made me a better person.  I also feel these failures were necessary milestones on the road to the success I have had in my life.  Failure is painful, but it does put into perspective the ups and downs each of us have in this life.  

Part of the educational process is owning up to and taking responsibility for those failures.  When your team fails to deliver software on time, you have failed.  It is incumbent on you understand what you did wrong and how to avoid the same mistake in the future.  There are situations where you do not have much control, and you still are confronted with failure.  It is unfair and unjust, but accepting that position and learning how to deal with it next time may lead to success in the future.

The acceptance of failure also does something else; it wins the respect of others who have been through the same experience you have.  You have endured the same hardship as others and have accepted responsibility for your shortfalls.  If you blame others or do not assume liability for failure, it will undermine your credibility as a leader and destroy teamwork.  I witnessed this first hand and could see collective eyes rolling as this individual began to speak.

So as a scrum master and agile coach, accept failure and take responsibility for it.

Until next time.