“Ship fast, fail fast”, sometimes shortened to “fail cheap”, is a common mantra in agile environments.1 It addresses real problems with rigid processes, hierarchies, and tech stacks. For years, the industry has promised higher speed through agile methods. That sounds good. Still, when people ask if I work in an agile way, I avoid a straight answer. People confuse speed with maturity. Moving faster does not fix a wrong direction. Speed as replacement for clarity. Read more

Crisis meeting with a managing director and his accountant “watchdog”. We are in his meeting room, his territory in a mid-sized company. The situation is tense, facts no longer matter. My counterpart’s decision-making style has long been shaped by a lack of governance. As in a close-quarter firefight, the tone becomes louder, more forceful. Not out of clarity or determination, but clearly with the intention to dominate. All signs are set to escalation. Read more