The past few weeks have reminded me that failure is a part of everything we do. Whether it’s in our professional lives or personal pursuits, from breaking an application to playing a game incorrectly and not winning, failure happens. The term ‘failure’ sounds harsh, but for me, it is about becoming comfortable with it and ensuring we mitigate its effects.

As we approach the launch of a new platform at the university, it is difficult not to reflect on missed opportunities or things we could have done differently. I need to remind myself that when we started, we didn’t have the wealth of knowledge that we have now, gained over the last 18 months. It’s challenging for me not to get caught up in a “failure spiral,” which can have negative consequences both professionally and personally.

I listen to a few sports podcasts, and a quote by Samuel Beckett came up:

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better – Samuel Beckett

I love this quote! Failure, when rolling out not just one, but five new applications, along with brand new processes, creating a new service, introducing new technology, new workflows, training, understanding the present, planning for the future, onboarding, involvement in boards and steering groups, and dealing with compliance—how can we not fail? Therefore, we need to get comfortable with failure, but try to “fail better” by:

1. Accepting that it has happened, and for me, it’s part of the job. Get comfortable.
2. Reviewing what happened by getting the facts.
3. Understanding why it happened, which sometimes involves digging deeper than the facts.
4. Developing new strategies so we do not fail in the same way again or so we can fail better.
5. Implementing a process or workflow to help us, which is documented.
6. Communicating consistently in all the above steps. It’s not easy, but it’s key.

Obviously, we want to deliver a service that is perfect, but in my 20 years of working in the tech center, I have yet to find an application that hasn’t changed, that hasn’t been rebranded, or that hasn’t required UI changes, that still is exactly the same as it was when it launched. Look at Apple; they love to tell us it’s perfect, but what they define as “flawed perfection” means it’s constantly changing.

Accepting failure doesn’t mean we sit back with popcorn and watch the “wheels fall off.” Failing better, for me, involves a lot of work to ensure we minimize failure (if possible) and are prepared when it happens (again, sometimes we aren’t, as it could be a new workflow, patch, cyber attack, user requirement, or edge case scenario).

Mar 13, 2025

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