Success and failure

suc·cess (sk-ss)
n.

1. The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted: attributed their success in business to hard work.
2. 1. The gaining of fame or prosperity: an artist spoiled by success.
   2. The extent of such gain.
3. One that is successful: The plan was a success.
4. Obsolete. A result or an outcome.

fail·ure (flyr)
n.

1. The condition or fact of not achieving the desired end or ends: the failure of an experiment.
2. One that fails: a failure at one's career.
3. The condition or fact of being insufficient or falling short: a crop failure.
4. A cessation of proper functioning or performance: a power failure.
5. Nonperformance of what is requested or expected; omission: failure to report a change of address.
6. The act or fact of failing to pass a course, test, or assignment.
7. A decline in strength or effectiveness.
8. The act or fact of becoming bankrupt or insolvent.

Success. Failure. How does one measure success or failure? Is success or failure quantifiable or are they nebulous? Are such concepts binary in their nature?

If a project is deamed a success, can it be that there is no part that is a failure? Conversely, can a failure contain a segment that is a success? I don't think that because something is either a failure or a success that they are mutually exclusive. I don't believe that they are. Just because something "fails" doesn't mean that something has not been learned. I also believe the converse, that just becuase something has succeeded doesn't mean that there has not been a failure. I think that true "failure" is when a lesson is just not learned, but more significantly, not recognized. You have to recognize failure to be able to begin to learn something from it.

If you can recongnize where a "failure" has occurred I think that you have in effect "succeeded". In all things failed, there is a lesson to be gleaned. In all things successful, there too is a lesson to be gleaned. Finding the point of failure or success may be a laborious task. But it is necessary in the evolutionary process. As is the case in all things human.

No plan, regardless of how well conceived, survives reality. Planning is a crucial step, it is in fact the crucial step. Any success or failure is predicated on the amount of planning involved. For those who may know me, they know my two favorite adages: "Proper Previous Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance", and "I can do it right, or I can do it twice". Both involve planning to mitigate the chance of failure. But as I said before, no plan, regardless of how well conceived, survives reality.

Having stated the above, I do not believe that success or failure are binary or mutually exclusive. They are nebulous and intertwined with each other. In some things, in many things, success and failure can be quantified depending on ones perspective. Some things may be classified in a binary manner depending on your perspective.

As in one of my projects. Some would say that the project has NOT succeeded as well as we had envisioned. I think it has in a certain respect. True, things have not gone smoothly. True, things could and should have been planned better. True, we have not always seen things the same way. But here is where my perspective says that success has been achieved. In examining where things have failed, I think we have in fact succeeded. My plan, our plan, has not survived reality. And I think that this is a good thing! Our inherent success has come from recognizing our points of failure. And in that process, we have and will identify the points of failure. From that examination a lesson, or lessons, will be learned and applied and we will therefore "succeed". "Failure" to learn and apply those lessons will in fact be the real "failure".