There are three types of failure

🌱 Seedling · 1 min

There are three types of failure archetypes:

  • Preventable failures (bad): these happen when someone fails to follow a clearly established process. They were entirely preventable.
  • Complex failures (bad): these happen due to complex and often subtle interactions between agents in the system that ultimately lead to error. These might have been preventable with better processes and/or greater psychological safety.
  • Intelligent failures (good): these are failures that are the regular result of doing your work. An R&D department, for example, will fail continuously as unrealistic projects are shut down. In an environment where intelligent failure is the norm, failure to fail is, in itself, a failure.

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