Wins & Failures

We build things nobody's built before, which means we break things nobody's broken before. The wins and the failures are both worth talking about, and most of that happens in two Slack channels: #kudos and #failure-analysis.

Celebrate the Wins

When someone ships something good, unblocks a teammate, or finally cracks a problem that's been dragging on, say so in #kudos. You don't need permission, and it doesn't have to be huge. A quick shout-out costs ten seconds and can make someone's week, and over time what we celebrate becomes a good picture of what great work looks like here.

Report the Failures

When something goes wrong, bring it up in #failure-analysis instead of sitting on it. That's uncomfortable, and we know it. Nobody enjoys admitting their thing fell over in front of everyone.

But a failure you talk about early is usually a small problem; a failure you hide has a way of growing until someone else hits the same wall. Weak organizations hide their failures. We'd rather look straight at ours.

After Action Reviews

When something significant breaks, we run a blameless After Action Review and answer three questions:

• What happened?
• Why did it happen?
• What do we change so it doesn't happen the same way again?

We're there to understand the system that let the failure through, not to find someone to blame, because people only tell the truth about what went wrong when owning up to it won't get them punished.

Failure ≠ Carelessness

There's a limit, though. A real failure comes from pushing into hard, unsolved territory and having something break. We like those; they're the price of ambitious work.

Carelessness is different: skipping diligence, shipping something sloppy, or ignoring a standard we've already agreed on.

Take big swings and don't be afraid to miss, but stay sharp on the fundamentals.