Being Agile: Eleven Breakthrough Techniques to Keep You from “Waterfalling Backward”

Addressing Reluctance

There can be a fear of trying new things because of the possibility of failure—and no one likes to fail. However, failure is an opportunity for learning and can spawn other ideas that ultimately more than make up for any initial “failures.” Additionally, trying new things imlies change and many people are uncomfortable with change. As long as you’re taking small steps (that is, “fail fast”), failures shouldn’t cause any major ripple effect in the project or in the organization and the apparent change may not look so daunting. As my son’s varsity basketball coach used to tell the team, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough!” Agile teams should live in a mature, penalty-free environment in which any ...