The first attempt at learning is the hardest.

Failure is one of those seminal experiences we have as professionals.  People will often forget their victories, but failure stings forever.  What makes failure more painful is how we are shunned by our fellows when we fall short.  It is as if our failure is a contagion that might contaminate others.  It explains why we fear failure: the personal, professional, and social costs seem too high.  I disagree that failure is shameful or contamination.  It is a test, and how you respond to disappointment is just as important as your approach to success.  

Failure is quite common in the technology business. A missing curly bracket will prevent code from compiling, and hidden memory leaks can hinder the general operation.  Finally, bugs show themselves during demonstrations with investors and stakeholders.  The time pressures and details developers must sort through create a perfect recipe for humility.  

As a coach or scrum master, what do you do when confronted with failure?  First, a coach should acknowledge each failure as a learning opportunity.  Mistakes and failures are necessary when learning new skills.  Software development changes so radically that developers must relearn their profession every eighteen months.  It makes failure the first attempt at learning.  I remember crashing an e-commerce website because I arrogantly thought the upgrade would go smoothly.  I was mistaken.  The cloud service was also not willing to restore a backup.  The site was down for four days, and I had to find a new job when the site came back up.  I always back up the software before doing an upgrade because I never want to fail like that again.  

Next, failure exposes problems within processes and systems.  The book “The Goal” introduced the theory of constraints, which states systems are only as good as their least efficient part.  Failure is a constraint that the remainder of the system must accommodate if it will improve.  Failure is necessary if we are going to understand how to improve the process.  The exposure of failure can point out things that can be corrected or accommodated.  

Finally, failure can create a positive feedback loop.  Angela Duckworth pioneered something called “grit theory.” Successful people and teams have a passion for what they do, the ability to persevere, and a willingness to overcome failure.  Often, teams with grit respond to loss with a deep desire to show others that they can prove people who doubt them wrong.  It is the ambition to say, “Just wait!” to those who witnessed that failure.  A good coach channels that energy into process improvement, personal growth, and attention to detail.  

Failure is not an end but a beginning.  First, you have an opportunity to learn.  Next, failure exposes ways to improve processes and procedures using the theory of constraints.  Finally, overcoming failure makes teams develop ‘grit,’ allowing them to channel their energies into success.  I feel awful each time I have failed, but I have learned something new and overcome it in the aftermath.  My professional and personal life continues to test me, but I am better prepared for those tests thanks to my experiences.  

Until next time.