A presentation at Open Source North Speaker Series by Jenna Pederson
CULTIVATING A CULTURE WHERE FAILURE IS CELEBRATED @JENNAPEDERSON Setting yourself up for failure
@JENNAPEDERSON I’m a failure. Long-time software engineer Business owner Senior Developer Advocate at AWS I MN Tech!
@JENNAPEDERSON Failure is not in my vocabulary.
Failing since childhood @JENNAPEDERSON
What is failure? fail·ure | feyl-yer (noun) @JENNAPEDERSON : lack of success
@JENNAPEDERSON “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” — Thomas Edison
@JENNAPEDERSON Failure is a spectrum. AMY C. EDMONDSON - STRATEGIES FOR LEARNING FROM FAILURE - HTTPS://HBR.ORG/2011/04/STRATEGIES-FOR-LEARNING-FROM-FAILURE
IN CHAT @JENNAPEDERSON Share your failures.
What is culture? cul·ture | kuhl-cher (noun) @JENNAPEDERSON : the set of shared values, goals, attitudes, and practices that characterizes a group
@JENNAPEDERSON Failure is emotionally charged.
@JENNAPEDERSON Amazon Leadership Principles Customer Obsession Think Big Ownership Bias for Action Invent and Simplify Frugality Are Right, A Lot Earn Trust Learn and Be Curious Deep Dive Hire and Develop the Best Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Insist on the Highest Standards Deliver Results HTTPS://WWW.AMAZON.JOBS/EN/PRINCIPLES
AMAZON LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES Customer Obsession @JENNAPEDERSON Leaders start with the customer and work backwards. They work vigorously to earn and keep customer trust. Although leaders pay attention to competitors, they obsess over customers. HTTPS://WWW.AMAZON.JOBS/EN/PRINCIPLES
AMAZON LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES @JENNAPEDERSON Invent and Simplify Leaders expect and require innovation and invention from their teams and always find ways to simplify. They are externally aware, look for new ideas from everywhere, and are not limited by “not invented here.” As we do new things, we accept that we may be misunderstood for long periods of time. HTTPS://WWW.AMAZON.JOBS/EN/PRINCIPLES
AMAZON LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES Learn and Be Curious @JENNAPEDERSON Leaders are never done learning and always seek to improve themselves. They are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them. HTTPS://WWW.AMAZON.JOBS/EN/PRINCIPLES
AMAZON LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES @JENNAPEDERSON Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting. Leaders have conviction and are tenacious. They do not compromise for the sake of social cohesion. Once a decision is determined, they commit wholly. HTTPS://WWW.AMAZON.JOBS/EN/PRINCIPLES
AMAZON LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES Bias for Action @JENNAPEDERSON Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. We value calculated risk taking. HTTPS://WWW.AMAZON.JOBS/EN/PRINCIPLES
@JENNAPEDERSON What is psychological safety?
@JENNAPEDERSON What is psychological safety? When a team feels safe to engage in learning behaviors like asking for help, admitting errors, disagreeing, and trying something new without fear of negative consequences like embarrassment or punishment.
IN CHAT @JENNAPEDERSON What makes you feel psychologically safe at work?
Etsy @JENNAPEDERSON Three-Armed Sweater Award HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/RYNCHANTRESS/STATUS/806576489798004737
NASA @JENNAPEDERSON Lean Forward; Fail Smart Award HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/NASAPEOPLE/STATUS/562970088681521152
How do you learn from failure? Discovery Finding errors early and sharing them. @JENNAPEDERSON
Adnon Cords HTTPS://WWW.AUTOGUIDE.COM/AUTO-NEWS/2016/01/TOYOTA-PRODUCTION-JAPAN-MAY-STOP-NEXT-MONTH-DUE-TO-STEEL-SHORTAGE.HTML
How do you learn from failure? Discovery Analysis Finding errors early and sharing them. Diving deep to find the root cause. @JENNAPEDERSON
Correction of Errors (COE) Mechanism to learn from mistakes What happened? What data do you have to support your analysis? What was the impact on the customers? What did you learn and how will you prevent it from happening again in the future? HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=YQIRLI2ZPXU @JENNAPEDERSON What are the contributing factors?
How do you learn from failure? Discovery Analysis Experimentation Finding errors early and sharing them. Diving deep to find the root cause. Proactive and strategic experimentation. @JENNAPEDERSON
Working Backwards Process Use it to get clarity, not to document what you’ve already decided to do. Who is the customer? What is the customer problem or opportunity? What is the most important customer benefit? What does customer experience look like? HTTPS://WWW.ALLTHINGSDISTRIBUTED.COM/2006/11/WORKING_BACKWARDS.HTML @JENNAPEDERSON How do you know what the customers need or want?
What can you do? @JENNAPEDERSON Culture change is hard. But don’t let that stop you!
Psychological Safety
Blameless Postmortems
Celebrate Failures
Experiments
Learn in Public
Share Your Mistakes
WRAPPING UP @JENNAPEDERSON Accept failure as part of the process. How we handle it and how we learn from it is what moves us forward.
Thank you! @JENNAPEDERSON Jenna Pederson Senior Developer Advocate at AWS @jennapederson
I’m a failure. And though the word ‘failure’ has never really been a part of my vocabulary, I’ve been successful at it my whole life. From failed businesses to taking down an entire datacenter with a single SQL statement, I’ll lay it all out there. I’ll share my failures, the lessons I’ve learned, how to set yourself up for failure, and how to have fun doing it.
for free. You
can too.