SESSION OVERVIEW For many organisations, failure is something to be avoided. Poor results are frowned upon, so people don’t take risks and hide undesirable results for fear of being blamed and punished. However, it is precisely these failures that generate new information from which we can learn, and that learning is what leads to organisational improvement and long term success. This talk will explore why failure is not an option, but a necessity, and how we can make failure and friend and not a foe.

1. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 1
AvailAgility@kjscotland AvailAgility@kjscotland #AG18
Failure is not an
Option
Karl Scotland
kjscotland@googlemail.com
https://availagility.co.uk
@kjscotland
Failure is not an Option
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39192146
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
I have a rule that some sequences of three
numbers obey — and some do not. Your job is to
discover what the rule is.
This sequence obeys the rule:
2 – 4 - 8
What new sequences of numbers would you use
to test your hypotheses?
https://flic.kr/p/bp5TyY

2. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 2
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
https://flic.kr/p/78hxQK
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
Probability of Failure0% 100%
Information

3. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 3
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgility
https://youtu.be/Du11NQ2SEs4
Failure is not an Option
Jason Little
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
Expect the Unexpected

4. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 4
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
https://flic.kr/p/qe8EFv
Cognitive
Dissonance: The
inner tension we
feel when our
beliefs are
challenged by
evidence.
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgility
God Complex: an unshakable belief
characterized by consistently inflated
feelings of personal ability, privilege,
or infallibility.
Failure is not an Option
https://flic.kr/p/4kFhmz

5. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 5
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgility
Where would you
prioritise
reinforcing the
plane with better
armour to increase
survival rates?
Failure is not an Option
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgility
Survivorship Bias:
concentrating on
the people or
things that made
it past some
selection process
and overlooking
those that did not.
Failure is not an Option
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survivorship-bias.png

6. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 6
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
Seek
Feedback
https://flic.kr/p/ZiSARb

7. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 7
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
https://youtu.be/IGQmdoK_ZfY
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
https://pxhere.com/en/photo/683747
Inattentional
blindness: the event
in which an individual
fails to perceive an
unexpected stimulus
that is in plain sight

8. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 8
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
You can’t find
your keys
where there
is no light.
https://flic.kr/p/d4T89
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
Ladder of Inference,
Chris Argyris
• Take Actions
• Adopt Beliefs
• Draw Conclusions
• Make Assumptions
• Interpret Meaning
• Select Reality
• Observe Reality
flic.kr/p/F5P17M

9. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 9
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
Double Loop Learning,
Chris Argyris
https://www.selfleadership.com/reflecting-and-leaning-2009-to-2010/
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
Ritual Dissent
https://flic.kr/p/btUGC5 http://cognitive-edge.com/methods/ritual-dissent/

10. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 10
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
Run
Experiments
https://flic.kr/p/9ZEmW8
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
Everyone knows
Experts know
Experts disagree
Nobody knows
Cynefin,
Dave Snowden
Complicated
Obvious
Chaotic
Complex sense-analyse-respond
sense-categorise-respond
probe-sense-respond
act-sense-respond
Governing constraints
Fixed constraints
Enabling constraints
No effective constraint
Good Practice
Best Practice
Emergent
Practice
Novel Practice

11. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 11
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgility
We believe that <solution>
Will result in <outcome>
We will know we have succeeded
when <evidence>
Failure is not an Option
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
‘For if we are uncritical we shall
always find what we want: we shall
look for, and find, confirmations, and
we shall look away from, and not see,
whatever might be dangerous to our
pet theories. In this way it is only too
easy to obtain . . . overwhelming
evidence in favour of a theory which,
if approached critically, would have
been refuted.
Karl Popper

12. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 12
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
Safe-to-Fail
not
Fail-Safe
https://flic.kr/p/9pCshb
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option

13. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 13
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgility
FAILFirst Attempt In Learning
Failure is not an Option

14. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 14
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
Critical Thinking: the
intellectually disciplined
process of actively and
skilfully conceptualising,
applying, analysing,
synthesising, and evaluating
information to reach an
answer or conclusion.
https://flic.kr/p/oRJxRm
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option

15. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 15
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgilityFailure is not an Option
https://youtu.be/9nvK-Hw_vUI
@kjscotland #AG18 AvailAgility
Templates
http://availagility.co.uk/templates/
Strategy Deployment
http://availagility.co.uk/strategy-deployment/
Workshop
http://agilegurugram.com/workshop/deploying-strategic-agility/
https://flic.kr/p/a688Ru
Failure is not an Option

16. Failure is not an Option 14th March 2018
Agile Gurugram 2018 16
AvailAgility@kjscotland AvailAgility@kjscotland #AG18
Failure is a
Necessity
Karl Scotland
kjscotland@googlemail.com
https://availagility.co.uk
@kjscotland
Failure is not an Option
https://flic.kr/p/5Gr3vE