Fail Fast
"Fail fast” is incomplete advice.
More comprehensive advice is: “Learn fast.”
Unfortunately there are far too many people who have never learned that the purpose of trying stuff out (testing) is for the creation of new or refined knowledge and not to simply to rack up “failures,” hoping that something sticks.
The comprehensive approach is to rapidly iterate through expressing, testing and revising your theories. This requires some understanding of a theory of knowledge (Deming).
Clayton Christensen, HBR faculty and author of “The Innovator’s Dilemma” and “Competing Against Luck” said,
“Theory is the most practical and useful business tool we can offer you. Good theory helps us to understand the “how” and “why.” It helps us make sense of how the world works and predict the consequences of our decisions and actions.”
Stop racking up “failures” as if that is a good thing. Begin accelerating the development of the knowledge possessed by you and your colleagues by learning how to improve your theories.
