In my quest to analyze project stakeholders I came across some very interesting observations by Alistair Cockburn in his book Agile Software Development. In the first chapters he doesnt discuss agile, but he is describing characteristics of individuals and groups that, in his opinion, lead to why agile is a good method for certain projects.

The part that particular interests me is mentioned as Overcoming failure modes. One of the characteristics of humans the project manager should take into account is the mode people are working in. This is more or less a default behavior people have, strategies they tend to do more likely working in projects.

The failure modes are behaviors that probably lead to problems in your project. So recognizing them will bring you already half way a solution.

The five failure modes he describes are:

- making mistakes
- preferring to fail conservatively
- inventing rather than researching
- being creatures of habit
- being inconsistent

Making Mistakes

People make mistakes. Wow, that is an eye opener How obvious this may seems, it is amazing how many managers assume that everything goes well, that people will do their work flawlessly. You can not only recognize this by optimistic planning, but also projects were iterations are incremental approaches are not used. These approaches are invented because of the recognition that people make mistakes.

Preferring To Fail Conservatively

For me personally this is a surprising one. However, I do recognize it. The idea behind this is that people would rather choose an option that they know, that they have done in the past, EVEN if the outcome is likely to be unsuccessful, than trey something new, where the outcome may be positive, but unsure. An example is the use of the waterfall approach. Although the outcome will almost be guaranteed not to be the desired one, because it is an accepted approach, people will prefer it above agile approaches that are unknown to them.

Inventing Rather Than Researching

This is the tendency of people to try to create new solutions all by themselves, instead of looking for previous solutions that might work. Reasons for this behavior are the preference for creative processes (more intellectual satisfying, more recognition among peers) and the not-invented-here syndrome.

Being Creatures Of Habit

It is difficult for a person to change is behavior; it is very unlikely that someone changes his standard approach to situations. It is almost hardwired and unconscious. I must admit that I sometimes catch myself doing this; if you work for more than 10 years in the industry, you have a lot of been there, done that. But I guess that is how the dinosaurs got extinct.

Being Inconsistent

One huge mistake is to think that people will behave consistent. Different moods and different situations cause humans to act different than in almost identical situations. If you live together with someone for a lot of years, you know how your partner can still surprise you after all those years!