It is impossible to take every step forward in the right direction. There will be plenty of missteps and wrong decisions made along the way.
When we get lost, we are reluctant to turn back or ask for directions despite the nagging doubt that we’re heading the wrong way. We need to prepare to be wrong.
I feel this is as true in life as it is for any technical project. Many times I’ve gotten lost and instead of backtracking to a known good point, I’ve ploughed on in the wrong direction.
When we refuse to admit that we need to back track, we are often making trouble for ourselves and everyone involved in the project.
Some examples of when it can be difficult to backtrack include:
- Giving a customer a critical piece of information or data that is used in their decision making that then turns out to be wrong.
- Committing large amounts of resources to a particular project plan that isn’t working and needs starting again.
- Removing features or parts of your design which seemed like a good idea but ultimately offer no value for customers.
As soon as you sense that either you, the project or the team are on the wrong path stop and backtrack as fast as you can!
The short-term pain felt during the backtracking will be trivial compared to the longer-term grief and chaos caused by the futility of marching on in the wrong direction.
