Back to all topics
An Essay · Vol. 03 · Two Modes, One Sequence
Getting It Right.
Failing Fast.

The question most leaders get backwards. The two modes aren't opposites. They are usually a sequence, applied in the right order to the right kind of decision.

Topics I Think About03 of 05

For about fifteen years, "fail fast" has been the default operating philosophy of modern business.

It came out of Silicon Valley, became gospel in product circles, and has since spread into marketing, services, and enterprise transformation. At the same time, in industries where reputation, safety, or trust is at stake, leaders quietly hold to the older instinct. Get it right the first time.

Both are sensible. Both are right. The trouble, from what I've seen across many organizations, including teams I've led, is that we often apply one rule when we should be applying the other, and then defend the choice afterwards.

What I've come to believe is that the question isn't fail fast versus get it right. It is whether you can recognize, in the moment, which kind of decision you are actually facing. And, more importantly, whether you understand that the two approaches are usually sequenced, not opposed.

That second part is the one I keep returning to. Fail-fast and first-time-right aren't opposites. Early imperfect outcomes are often what build the confidence and the data to make the next call with precision. The leaders I admire, the ones who scale well, tend to use both. In the right order.

The advantage shifts from those who move first to those who learn fastest. A working hypothesis
A note on the evidence

What the research on first movers and fast followers actually shows.

47%
Pure first-mover failure rate
28%
Fast-follower market share
8%
Fast-follower failure rate
Per research summarised by Golder & Tellis · Often cited in strategy literature
Three principles, in sequence

How to know which mode this decision needs.

01
Diagnose

Diagnose the situation before picking the rule.

The right question, in my experience, isn't "should we move fast or get this right?" It is "what does this situation cost us if we are wrong?" Reputational damage, safety, regulatory compliance, irreversible commitments to customers. That is first-time-right territory, and the discipline to slow down there has been worth more, every time, than the speed I would have gained by skipping it. Product features, GTM experiments, internal processes, market hypotheses. That is usually fail-fast territory, and the discipline to ship before you are ready has mattered more than the polish you would add by waiting.

02
Avoid the trap

Watch for the design phase trap.

The most expensive failure I have seen, repeatedly, is the one that never ships. Leaders who can't tolerate imperfection, and I've been that leader at certain points, often pay the higher price. They lose the first-mover window where it actually exists. They accumulate sunk cost in slide decks while a competitor accumulates sunk cost in customers. And they lose the learning that only contact with the real market generates. Sometimes "fail fast" isn't really about failing. It is about refusing to get trapped in design.

03
Sequence them

Treat early imperfect outcomes as the on-ramp to precision.

This is the principle I think most leaders, including me at times, have missed. The two modes aren't a fork in the road. They are a sequence. Ship something imperfect. Learn from contact. Then bring discipline and precision to the things that genuinely require it. Getting some outcome, even a messy one, builds the confidence and the signal that makes the later first-time-right execution possible. Without the early motion, the precision tends to arrive too late to matter.

The leaders I've watched build durable enterprises don't choose a side in this debate. They diagnose the situation. They refuse to confuse motion with progress. And they use the right mode for the right moment.

The skill, as I've come to see it, isn't speed. It isn't perfection. It is knowing which one this particular decision needs. And being willing to switch modes the moment the situation does.

A question to sit with
Look at the most important decision on your desk this week. Is the cost of being wrong bounded, or does it outlast the lesson?
Samir Deolikar · Topics I Think About