Librarian by Day » failure http://librarianbyday.net by Bobbi Newman Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:52:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Learning from Failure #intlib10 http://librarianbyday.net/2010/10/30/learning-from-failure-intlib10/ http://librarianbyday.net/2010/10/30/learning-from-failure-intlib10/#comments Sat, 30 Oct 2010 13:48:49 +0000 Bobbi Newman http://librarianbyday.net/?p=4991 I had a few slides for my session on failure with Matt Hamilton but I think it is more useful if I post some of the research and articles I read and refered to in my session. (plus I don’t want to get a cease and desist from Disney, if you were there you know what I’m talking about. ) 8 Bad Habits that Crush Your Creativity And Stifle Your Success 6 Reasons Why People Don’t Change, and What to Do About That Are You Squandering Your Intelligent Failures How to Learn From Failure Do We Really Learn from Failure? (Part I) Managing Emotions to Learn from Failure What We Can Learn from Failure We learn more from success than failure Failing to Learn and Learning to Fail (Intelligently): How Great Organizations Put Failure to Work to Improve and Innovate Kent Bottles: Why Smart People Don’t Learn from Failures How You Learn More from Success Than Failure Try, Try Again, or Maybe Not Trying and Failing Enhances Learning, According to Research by Nate Kornell Getting It Wrong: Surprising Tips on How to Learn What Steve Wozniak Learned From Failure The Role of Failure in Learning Similar Posts: Why I Attend Internet Librarian and You [...]]]>

I had a few slides for my session on failure with Matt Hamilton but I think it is more useful if I post some of the research and articles I read and refered to in my session. (plus I don’t want to get a cease and desist from Disney, if you were there you know what I’m talking about. :-) )

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]]> http://librarianbyday.net/2010/10/30/learning-from-failure-intlib10/feed/ 3 Stop Wasting Your Failures! Plan for Intelligent Failure http://librarianbyday.net/2010/03/29/stop-wasting-your-failures-plan-for-intelligent-failure/ http://librarianbyday.net/2010/03/29/stop-wasting-your-failures-plan-for-intelligent-failure/#comments Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:57:40 +0000 Bobbi Newman http://librarianbyday.net/?p=3399 It’s all fine and good to say learn from your failures, but how?  First you need to acknowledge that they will happen.  Especially right now in the current economy.  Rita McGrath notes: Despite widespread recognition that challenging times place unpredictable demands on people and businesses, I still run across many managers who would prefer to avoid the logical conclusion that stems from this: failure is a lot more common in highly uncertain environments than it is in better-understood situations. Then you plan for failure. Sim Sitkin talks about intelligent failure in his article “Learning through failure: The strategy of small losses.” Intelligent failure? Yep.  Essentially planning your projects to be certain that you will learn something from them succeed or fail.  What do intelligent failures look like? They are carefully planned, so that when things go wrong you know why They are genuinely uncertain, so the outcome cannot be known ahead of time They are modest in scale, so that a catastrophe does not result They are managed quickly, so that not too much time elapses between outcome and interpretation Something about what is learned is familiar enough to inform other parts of the business. McGrath adds two more in her article Are You Squandering [...]]]>

It’s all fine and good to say learn from your failures, but how?  First you need to acknowledge that they will happen.  Especially right now in the current economy.  Rita McGrath notes:

Despite widespread recognition that challenging times place unpredictable demands on people and businesses, I still run across many managers who would prefer to avoid the logical conclusion that stems from this: failure is a lot more common in highly uncertain environments than it is in better-understood situations.

Then you plan for failure. Sim Sitkin talks about intelligent failure in his article “Learning through failure: The strategy of small losses.” Intelligent failure? Yep.  Essentially planning your projects to be certain that you will learn something from them succeed or fail.  What do intelligent failures look like?

  • They are carefully planned, so that when things go wrong you know why
  • They are genuinely uncertain, so the outcome cannot be known ahead of time
  • They are modest in scale, so that a catastrophe does not result
  • They are managed quickly, so that not too much time elapses between outcome and interpretation
  • Something about what is learned is familiar enough to inform other parts of the business.

McGrath adds two more in her article Are You Squandering Your Intelligent Failures?

  • Underlying assumptions are explicitly declared
  • These can be tested at specific checkpoints, identified in advance, since planned results may not be equivalent to outcomes.

Why bother?

Failures show you where your assumptions are wrong. Failures demonstrate where future investment would be wasted. And failures can help you identify those among your team with the mettle to persevere and creatively change direction as opposed to pig-headedly charging blindly ahead. Further, failures are about the only way in which an organization can re-set its expectations for the future in any meaningful way.

Despite your best efforts and preventative measures you will still fail occasionally, best to set yourself and your project up for intelligent failure to ensure you learning something from it.

Read more

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]]> http://librarianbyday.net/2010/03/29/stop-wasting-your-failures-plan-for-intelligent-failure/feed/ 2 How to Learn From Failure http://librarianbyday.net/2010/02/09/how-to-learn-from-failure/ http://librarianbyday.net/2010/02/09/how-to-learn-from-failure/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:07:18 +0000 Bobbi Newman http://librarianbyday.net/?p=2670 So often when talking about innovation or change we hear someone say don’t be afraid to fail. That is harder than it sounds, I mean really; who wants to fail? Who wants to stand up in front of a group, no matter how big or how small and admit they were wrong. I know some people would admit they were wrong, but no one wants to be wrong. Part of the problem is failure is seen as a waste of time, of money or other resources.  But we can learn a lot from failure as Jonah Lehrer writes Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up Too often, we assume that a failed experiment is a wasted effort. But not all anomalies are useless. Here’s how to make the most of them Check Your Assumptions - Ask yourself why this result feels like a failure. What theory does it contradict? Maybe the hypothesis failed, not the experiment. Seek Out the Ignorant -  Talk to people who are unfamiliar with your experiment. Explaining your work in simple terms may help you see it in a new light. Encourage Diversity - If everyone working on a problem speaks the same language, then everyone has the same set [...]]]>

cc image used courtesy of connors got heart on flickr

So often when talking about innovation or change we hear someone say don’t be afraid to fail. That is harder than it sounds, I mean really; who wants to fail? Who wants to stand up in front of a group, no matter how big or how small and admit they were wrong. I know some people would admit they were wrong, but no one wants to be wrong.

Part of the problem is failure is seen as a waste of time, of money or other resources.  But we can learn a lot from failure as Jonah Lehrer writes Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up

Too often, we assume that a failed experiment is a wasted effort. But not all anomalies are useless. Here’s how to make the most of them

  1. Check Your Assumptions - Ask yourself why this result feels like a failure. What theory does it contradict? Maybe the hypothesis failed, not the experiment.
  2. Seek Out the Ignorant -  Talk to people who are unfamiliar with your experiment. Explaining your work in simple terms may help you see it in a new light.
  3. Encourage Diversity - If everyone working on a problem speaks the same language, then everyone has the same set of assumptions.
  4. Beware of Failure-Blindness - It’s normal to filter out information that contradicts our preconceptions. The only way to avoid that bias is to be aware of it.

Read more

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]]> http://librarianbyday.net/2010/02/09/how-to-learn-from-failure/feed/ 5 Top Ten Links Week 5 http://librarianbyday.net/2010/02/05/top-ten-links-week-5/ http://librarianbyday.net/2010/02/05/top-ten-links-week-5/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:44:13 +0000 Bobbi Newman http://librarianbyday.net/?p=2840 My personally selected top 10 from the links I shared on Twitter from 1/29/2010 thru 2/4/2010 about dismantling the echo-chamber… more on the echo chamber Content Creators & Consumers (& the iPad) – an interesting post on who the audience of the iPad is. I know its not me, but I’ve had conversations with enough people who are just waiting to get one that I know there is an audience no matter what the techies feel its lacking. Facebook Is Working On A Foursquare-Killer Why Smart People Don’t Learn from Failures – its ok to fail, just be sure you learn something from it. President’s budget freezes library funding, omits school libraries from education increase if you haven’t heard or read about this you need to and read Buffy Hamilton’s response An Indecent Proposal Don’t feed the trolls, unless you’re feeding them tranquilizers – great article on how to handle blog comments, including how to handle trolls 10 Steps to Promote Learning in Your Conference Presentation Information and services should be equal But, I Like My Loser Friends! great post from Mary Schmidt at Lip-Sticking in response to The Most Important Success Tip:Stop Lying Down with Dogs, Already from Copyblogger [...]]]>

CC image used courtesy of holeymoon on flickr

My personally selected top 10 from the links I shared on Twitter from 1/29/2010 thru 2/4/2010

  1. about dismantling the echo-chamber… more on the echo chamber
  2. Content Creators & Consumers (& the iPad) – an interesting post on who the audience of the iPad is. I know its not me, but I’ve had conversations with enough people who are just waiting to get one that I know there is an audience no matter what the techies feel its lacking.
  3. Facebook Is Working On A Foursquare-Killer
  4. Why Smart People Don’t Learn from Failures – its ok to fail, just be sure you learn something from it.
  5. President’s budget freezes library funding, omits school libraries from education increase if you haven’t heard or read about this you need to and read Buffy Hamilton’s response An Indecent Proposal
  6. Don’t feed the trolls, unless you’re feeding them tranquilizers – great article on how to handle blog comments, including how to handle trolls
  7. 10 Steps to Promote Learning in Your Conference Presentation
  8. Information and services should be equal
  9. But, I Like My Loser Friends! great post from Mary Schmidt at Lip-Sticking in response to The Most Important Success Tip:Stop Lying Down with Dogs, Already from Copyblogger
  10. ALA Learning -5 Tips for Trainers to Prevent TechFail

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