I love the theory of failing fast. If you are going to get something wrong, it’s best to know what it is so that you can get the solution put together just as quickly. When trying to get a solution to market time is often your enemy.
But there are many moments when time is your friend and a quick solution can actually work against you – even if it is the right one. When dealing people and organizations, some things just do not move quickly. When you need consensus and support from others, it is easily possible to move too quickly and alienate the support that you need. Maybe your priorities are different from theirs. Maybe the solution is less urgent than you believed.
When you move quickly there will always be people that were not ready to move as quickly as you did. If you don’t need their support for success, or you can get them bought in after the fact, there is no problem. But if they are going to cut off all of your oxygen because they don’t like how you did the work, you could be in trouble.
Basically, how you solve a problem can sometimes be more important than the solution itself. It’s important to know what success looks like – a standalone answer, team building, organizational consensus, greater coordination, or something else entirely. The answer may not actually be the result.