You're right in that lessons are best learnt from personal mistakes. I think there's value in being "told how it works" however, because: 1). It's a great san

You're right in that lessons are best learnt from personal mistakes. I think there's value in being "told how it works" however, because: 1). It's a great sanity check for an existing undertaking, 'specially one that's heading for the rocks. 2). It's a good resource to use when trying to make a case to a project or program manager about a project, new business unit, etc. As with anything in life, any particular position has an opposing position that's as justifiable.