Take Risks

“If you win, you can lead. If you lose, you can guide.” – Swami Vivekananda

Should we do this, or should we do that? What if we do this, and then that happens?

Leadership is not about making the right or wrong decision. You do not control the future so every decision will involve trade-offs.

Take risks does not mean being stupid on purpose

In one agile team, we were endlessly debating a technical architectural choice. I suspect we would still be continuing the debate had we not agreed to settle the issue by trying experiments.

With the help of the architect and a full-time team member, both camps planned to implement a spike with their choice of technology. And then, we tested both implementations against performance benchmarks to select a way forward and settle the debate.

It puzzled me that the architect had not expressed a preference during the debate. Later, in private, I asked him why. And he said that in a production environment, both technical choices would have performed well, but he wanted the team to own the decision, so he encouraged experimentation.

The architect perceived both options as right, whereas the team members viewed each option as right vs. wrong. So, by trying an experiment, the architect helped the whole team make a decision that ensured buy-in from the entire team. They turned right-wrong into right-right option choice.

Leading an enterprise transformation is full of making intelligent trade-offs. Don’t take risks you don’t yet understand. Engage us for Strategy and Advisory services to turn right-wrong trade-offs into right-right options.