The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/354776
WWW.ILTANET.ORG 83 Problem-solving is 90 percent of what IT professionals do. How do you save time and have better project outcomes? You have to fail faster! • Fail Faster: If you fail 100 times in a day, you will get more right answers than if you fail 30 times in a day. Your goal is to make fewer mistakes on each iteration. Don't stare at the ceiling imagining what you want to test; go make a change and test it. • Fail Smaller: As you fail, incorporate focused changes on each iteration. Narrow your scope of changes, and be precise. Don't try to fix a problem with 30 changes; start with one so you can determine whether it improved your outcome. • Fail Smarter: Have a specific goal you're trying to achieve. Have small, accomplishable goals, and you'll start to see more successes. • Build on Successes: Be deliberate and careful, so you can recreate and improve upon each success. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel. Refer to similar instances and work collaboratively with others to build on past experiences. • Know When You Have Failed: It is never fun to tell the project sponsor you cannot accomplish what they want, but it beats endlessly spinning your wheels. • Stop on Success: It seems simple: Stop when you've achieved success. But this can be hard in practice. Do not keep trying to improve further because you're simply doing work that is not required. Fail Faster to Succeed Quicker by Lee Ragans of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. November 21, 2014 National Harbor, MD Join us for the second annual Swartworth Leadership Development Seminar This is the second annual ILTA leadership seminar in honor of and inspired by a true leader, Chief Warrant Officer Five Sharon T. Swartworth (deceased). She was a soldier, a legal administrator and a committed ILTA volunteer leader – the embodiment of a leader in all aspects of her life. In an article published just aer her death, an Army leader said, "What people recognized in Sharon was her ability to develop a vision for an organization and, more importantly, to implement that vision through persistence, toughness and tenacity. … Without Sharon's leadership, these changes have slowed, but her vision and drive were unmistakable, and these changes are being carried out by others." leadership.iltanet.org