The Concept of Failing Forward
The Not So Subtle Art of Keep Moving
Hey, fellow Leader 🚀,
I am Artur and welcome to my weekly newsletter. I am focusing on topics like Project Management, Innovation, Leadership, and a bit of Entrepreneurship. I am always open to suggestions for new topics. Feel free to reach me on Substack and share my newsletter if it helps you in any way.
The wonder of having a relatively small newsletter is that I know some of my subscribers personally. Not only do I know what some of you did last summer, but I also know that some of us share the same burden of having boardgaming as a hobby.
There is a game design concept which is called “Failing Forward”. The concept is simple. Traditional games would present the player with an obstacle, and the only way the game would progress would be by overcoming the said obstacle by fighting a boss or solving a puzzle, for example. For the hard-core players out there, it’s the concept easily seen on Gloomhaven, where you need to try and fail 1000 times a scenario before moving forward with that quest branch. Because people have enough challenges in day-to-day life, eventually game designers thought having a scenario repeated over and over again just to succeed a goal, would go against the overall enjoyment of the game. This is where the concept of “Failing Forward” was introduced. The concept of presenting the player with challenges, but despite failing them the storyline or quest branch would continue. The player would choose to fail forward, or repeat the challenge.
So how is a game design concept related to project management?
Some weeks ago, I had this immensely important project meeting. It was where I would expect to have more budget allocated to a brand-new project. I have prepared the proposal, the numbers, and all the information for the management to make an informed decision. I would expect a GO from the management, however, I needed to be ready for every question or challenge that I would be asked. Eventually, the gray cloud inside my head started to ask, what if the proposal was rejected? I counteracted (in my head) what would be the arguments for rejection. So a series of possibilities started to unfold in my mind and how could address them. Eventually, if we got to the case where the management was not convinced, what now? Would be a massive blow for the project impacting all timelines imaginable. The answer was to move forward. Fail forward.
I would need to address the Management’s feedback and prepare a counter-over, but the show must go on. Especially with tight deadlines. I started to figure out how much of the project we could proceed with the resources available and how we would gather more visibility on the uncertainties.
For big projects, especially with a high degree of uncertainty, things won’t be run according to plan. So the manager should be creative and how to maneuver such events. There will be situations where the project team won’t be able to tackle, or we don’t have enough information to have a solution. So the project team needs to move forward by gathering feedback, strategize based on the available information, and keeping going until we have new pieces of information. Adaptability is key. Information is king for planning. Whatever we must do next, should address the learning curve.
If you are curious, yes, my budget was approved and it was all but a chatter in my head. The main message here is that if we want the project to succeed, sometimes we need to adapt and fail forward. Dwelling on past failures won’t do anything for project success. Learning and keep moving are key.
That’s it. If you find this post useful please share it with your friends or colleagues who might be interested in this topic. If you would like to see a different angle, suggest in the comments or send me a message on Substack.
Cheers,
Artur