Dan Rogers, its CEO LaunchDarkly.
Companies are under tremendous pressure to continue to innovate and deliver software quickly. However, this drive for speed can come at the expense of software stability — but it doesn’t have to.
In technology, the mantra “Move fast and break things” is well understood. However, in today’s landscape, is “breaking things” really necessary?
From the infamous moth that downed Harvard’s Mark II in 1947 to today’s holidays, like this summer’s widespread outage that affected everything from airlines to hotels and banks to hospitals, bugs have always been a danger to computers. Although engineers no longer fight bugs verbatim, the risk of buggy software continues to grow as code output and the pace of innovation pick up and our software systems become more interconnected. This problem is only exacerbated by the belief that breaking things is not only an acceptable part of the process but a necessary one. Is not.
Application of the Basic Principles
It’s time to discard the belief that bugs, crashes, and outages are just part of the software development process. While speed is essential to competitiveness, software failures are not. The reality is that effective risk management practices are critical to sustainable innovation. Not only that, but these practices are already mainstream — your teams just aren’t using them.
To innovate quickly without sacrificing quality, technology leaders need to incorporate some smart risk management practices into their development workflow, starting with a progressive mindset. This means releasing new features to a small group of users first so you can get real feedback while monitoring performance.
Likewise, automated monitoring tools are essential—they help identify performance issues and bugs in real-time so your team can act on them quickly. Instant reset is another necessity; If a new feature ends up causing problems, your teams can quickly roll back to a previous version and keep working. Other features such as targeted segmentation and runtime configuration management can also help contain any issues and prevent them from affecting everyone at once.
Applying these basic principles is standard practice for many global organizations. You and your teams should know what these best practices are, but the real question is: Are you putting them into practice? If not, you could be on the fast track to a title you probably don’t want to see.
Cultivating a Culture of Excellence
However, technology alone is not enough – a cultural change is also required. A corporate culture that prioritizes both speed and readiness is fundamental to sustained and scalable innovation. Organizations that invest in continuous learning and development foster a workforce that is equipped to handle the many complexities of today’s technology landscape. With the right planning, processes and platforms, you can transform your organizational mindset from mindless innovation to thoughtful evolution.
It’s not just large-scale projects that drive this culture. I’m passionate about enabling everyone on our team—whether it’s a marketer or a senior developer—to create and develop great ideas quickly. Our regular Hackathon Moonshots invites anyone in the company to pitch ideas they think will move the needle for us or our customers. These are voted on by a representative section of the company and reviewed for addition to our product roadmap. Rapid growth and development of these insights, using the fundamentals from above, is how we can harness the passion and creativity of our team in a controlled environment.
And just as importantly, as an executive team, we support this dynamic by adhering to core operating principles that emphasize both flexibility and ownership, particularly “Get Your 80/20 Rolling” and “Drive Like an Owner.” These principles guide our managers in promoting a mindset that balances innovation with the need for careful product delivery.
Organizations that are able to balance risk and innovation could reap many benefits. They build a reputation for reliability, attracting and retaining customers who value reliable service. And at the same time, internally, a stable environment boosts employee morale and productivity.
Conclusion
As we continue to adapt to the changes brought about by artificial intelligence and other technological advances, adopting a strategy that includes both the speed of innovation and risk management is no longer optional—it’s vital. By fostering an environment where innovation is balanced with operational excellence, leaders can ensure their organizations “go fast” and thrive in the digital age without breaking the bank.
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