Ready, fire, aim: "Failing fast"
by Dr Greg Chapman
For many businesses, planning becomes a chore so their business strategy becomes a series of experiments. This can be successful if managed properly, but there is a fine line to walk.
The philosophy of “Ready – Fire – Aim” is built around “Failing Fast”. That is, controlled experiments or pilot schemes to see whether particular strategies will work. If they don’t, you quickly shut down the experiment, learn the lessons, and re-aim based on that new knowledge.
An example might be developing a new product for a business and testing to see whether customers like it. To manage risks, you might decide to just promote it to a few customers to see what the response might be, get feedback, and modify the product, marketing or both, and go out on a bigger scale. If it attracted no interest, perhaps it would be dropped altogether.
Advantages of this approach
1. You do not over invest in any strategy that will not deliver the results you are seeking.
2. It avoids procrastination and delay. It is more important to get it done than get it right. People obsess in trying to create perfection. They labour away for a long time without asking the true judge of perfection – the market place. No prisoners taken. The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good.
Disadvantages of this approach
If you are creating an innovative product, the initial reaction can be quite negative. The first mobile phones were better described as portable. You could move them, but not with ease. The audio quality was poor and they regularly dropped out. The only thing you can say that has definitely improved with the modern mobile phone is that they are lighter!
The problem here is that “Ready – Fire– Aim” is a tactical approach. The belief before the introduction of portable phones would have been, that no-one would want a phone that was so unreliable. The strategic view was that people would be prepared to sacrifice reliability for mobility.
The tempting conclusion for a “Ready – Fire– Aim” experiment with the first portable phones would be that the market would not accept these devices due to their limitations. (They were also very expensive.)
Perseverance is key
If the target is missed with “Ready – Fire – Aim”, it may be because there was insufficient strategic research and analysis. So, rather than failing fast, persevering may be the strategically correct decision. Some would argue that “Ready – Fire – Aim” is a philosophy best suited for businesses whose owners have attention deficit disorder. The only time you fail is when you stop trying.
Thomas Edison took 10,000 attempts to invent the light bulb. His success did not come about from the “Ready – Fire – Aim” philosophy. In fact, if it had, we would have never heard of him.
An alternative planning philosophy is to gain a deep understanding of the market needs (for the mobile phone, the benefits of mobility far out weigh the quality of the connection) and educating customers so they understand the value to them of the offer.
In other words, taking the time to develop strategic foundations in the market place that allow the business to:
“Ready – Aim – Fire – Fire – Fire – Fire!”
May Your Business Be – As You Plan It!
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