5 tips: Better project management through failure
Do you enjoy failing? Of course not. It is rarely a pleasant feeling. But the truth is that mistakes are often the fastest path to learning that actually sticks. Accept that a mistake does not mean the person is a failure.
In many agile approaches to project management, we emphasise the principle of “fail fast”: pressure-testing solutions as early as possible so that any mistakes allow us to learn and adjust the course of work early in the development process.
We can work more effectively and with higher motivation if we use mistakes to create value. Become a better project manager by turning errors and setbacks into something positive.
Here are 5 tips to help you move forward
1. Recognise that a mistake or failure does not mean the person is a failure.
Prevent team members from identifying themselves with their mistakes, so motivation and belief in their own ability to succeed are not damaged.
2. Be open about mistakes and failures.
Include, for example, a fixed agenda item during status meetings where team members share and learn from each other’s mistakes. Create a culture where sharing is motivating – not embarrassing.
3. Capture the learning from mistakes.
Make sure the project group can see the value created by learning – for the individual, for the team and for the wider organisation.
4. Use positive psychology to strengthen the willingness to share experiences and try new things.
For example, give praise when someone shares a mistake, enabling everyone to learn from it.
5. Ensure that KPIs support learning, planning, communication, teamwork and risk tolerance.
They should encourage employees to try new things and share their experiences.
A story about celebrating a mistake – and the value it created
A project manager leading a large IT test department was using two skilled testers on a major customer project. One day, he received a call from the Helpdesk team responsible for servers and the distribution of processing capacity across production and test environments. One of the testers had unintentionally held on to a dataset for an extended period. This meant that no one else in the department could test, and it affected the delivery to the client.
The tester was devastated and terrified of the consequences. The project manager asked him to sit down at his computer and write a short description of what had happened, what the impact had been, and what he had learned. The tester sent the email to his colleagues and the rest of the department, consisting of 21 employees.
The project manager congratulated him – also in a department-wide email – praising him for having the courage to describe his mistake, own it and learn from it. The tester received positive feedback, and instead of the mistake resulting in shame, it generated valuable learning for both him and the entire department.
He later told the project manager in a 1:1 meeting that the experience had deeply inspired him.
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