Editorials

When you know something is Absolutely Wrong

Fail fast is a popular catch phrase, one that I have quoted in this site before. However, I have always thought of it in the context of validating software decisions where you are wanting to evaluate options for the best fit. This is really a good practice when you are entering into a technical implementation for which you don’t have the necessary experience, and no direction is available elsewhere.

Today I heard a story that prompted me to apply this strategy in a different way. I heard a story from an individual who was required to implement software in a method they knew would not work. The upper manager making the requirement was unable to understand why it wouldn’t work, and insisted on having it done their way. This person did as required without complaint and waited for things to unravel when the software was released to production; and it did unravel.

Outraged, the manager called the developer into his office and asked how this could have happened. The wise individual already had a plan ready to fix the problem. No blame was made. No statements of “I told you this would happen”. They simply said, here is how we can fix it, Here is how long it will take, Here is what you need to do in the short period until the new implementation is in place.

Sometimes we know things aren’t optimal. Sometimes we know things are not a good practice. But there other times when we simply know something is absolutely wrong. The take away I have from this story today is, when you know something is absolutely wrong, build a plan to fix it at the same time, and be ready to implement it quickly. Secondly, if you can make it failsooner (without arrogance), that may not be a bad thing either.

Cheers,

Ben