12 ms·

Failure is not an Option - DivineBytes

7 points by eibrahim 14y ago

angdis 14y ago
Dude, if success or failure actually hung on rhetoric (word-choice), there would be millions more start-ups "succeeding" today. "Failure is not an option" in that one never explicitly _chooses_ failure. It just happens for a million different reasons. There are a million reasons why even a flawless gem of a productivity and time-management app won't make more money than you put into developing it. Ask the Chandler folks, incredibly smart and experienced people who set out to build the greatest calendaring/PIM/to-do-list eva... and failed.
- batista 14y ago
  >Dude, if success or failure actually hung on rhetoric (word-choice), there would be millions more start-ups "succeeding" today. Truer words were never spoken!
dools 14y ago
I try to do stuff all the time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Trying isn't the issue, it's stopping trying that results in failure.
smacktoward 14y ago
"Failure is not an option!" is a phrase that automatically annoys me when I hear it, because almost nobody who uses it actually understands what it means. It's usually used in the sense of "we have decided to rule out the possibility of failure." But that's not really what the phrase means. What it means is that you have exhausted every possibility other than succeeding. It means that, to borrow a poker term, you're "all in" -- you have gotten yourself into a position from which there are only two ways out: success, and utter ruin. This is what the screenwriters of the movie Apollo 13 were getting at when they coined the phrase (it's usually credited to NASA flight director Gene Kranz, but that's incorrect: see http://www.spaceacts.com/notanoption.htm http://www.spaceacts.com/notanoption.htm). When the Apollo 13 mission went awry, the NASA teams on the ground didn't have the option to accept failure, because failure meant the death of the three astronauts and probably the end of the moon landing program. There was literally nowhere else for the people involved to go. They were "all in" -- the astronauts especially, but even to some degree the men on the ground. (If you're a mission control specialist in 1970, and you get drummed out of NASA with the loss of three astronauts on your record, whaddaya gonna do, go work for the other space program down the street? Start your own? Your career is done.) What most of the people who use this phrase miss is that rarely are they actually in that deep. If your social video sharing startup fails, you've lost a couple years of your life, and maybe some money. But you're not ruined. You're still alive; you still have your skills and talents; you can still go get a job somewhere. If you're smart, people will probably even lend you money to try again someday. You're down, but not out. A true "failure is not an option" startup scenario would be one where, if the startup didn't take flight, you would lose every dollar and piece of property you own, all your academic and professional credentials would be revoked, and you'd be barred from ever working in technology again. That's what "all in" looks like. It's fucking terrifying. It's also much, much higher stakes than all but a few of us will every play for. Which is a good thing! But unless you're one of those few, if you go around talking about "failure is not an option," it makes you sound kind of stupid.
- kstenerud 14y ago
  Furthermore, if you do take entrepreneurship to that level, you are doing it wrong. Economic ruin is one thing, but gambling your ability to ever try again against such steep odds is fucking stupid. Entrepreneurs who succeed on their first try are extremely rare. Risk your entire fortune and the clothes on your back and the respect of your peers, but nothing more. Once you've hit rock bottom a few times, getting up again becomes second nature.
- dredmorbius 14y ago
  It wasn't until I read Neal Stephenson's Anatham that I could finally pin a name on this logical fallacy: Diax's Rake. "Never believe a thing simply because you want it to be true" http://anathem.wikia.com/wiki/Diaxs_Rake http://anathem.wikia.com/wiki/Diaxs_Rake As "failure is not an option" is typically used, it's an "abandon all logic and evidence and punt on faith" mode of operation I see far too often, in which the meaning isn't "we find it acceptable to fail", but "because of our blind faith in some belief, we set the possibility of failure as zero. Particularly in various business inspirational literature and Republican Party military, foreign, economic, energy, and environmental policies. Articles such as this one make me wish for an option to downvote, rather than simply flag, submissions.
losethos 14y ago
If SETI got one message every five years, would we listen. The same applies here, retards. ---- Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. ” 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know, ” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth. ” ---- Try to please God. Not everything is pleasing. God says... Way anxieties colours reverence showing Preacher affects respite scroll To omit attuned disposed particles maintaining possession purely hindrance soberly puffed turnest recalling ill-favoured banner IV failure toilsome reverently became does amend impair advising viper receive unlikeliness exquisitely eligible walks honourable gathers Take tardy star-gazers availed to heeded you're_out_of_your_mind reverse_engineer thereupon payest sorrows insult adding done file unteach winning dispense Greece aided aged hesitated subtle impunity weaving discourses mutable you_are_my_sunshine disappear absolute confidently difficult Excellently acquired saved spider's prelate contemporary baptised One_finger_salute another's Living execute such my_bad Donations AD reasoning befell pronounced rare shared refund Denmark scourgedst keeps love absorb exercise uninjuriousness transforming seasons venturing Tully's tear revealedst committed Animals inseparable horse cured changeable oh_no peradventure contempt lips oracles pollution equably crookedness gainful mid-day AM unlocked second Ivy_league taught wise lieth Orderer designs explanatory Wales chosen false-named solemnities are_you_insane hearts lowlily beholdest embrace testimony ---- What do I take on faith? Relativity.

7 points by eibrahim 14y ago

Dude, if success or failure actually hung on rhetoric (word-choice), there would be millions more start-ups "succeeding" today. "Failure is not an option" in that one never explicitly _chooses_ failure. It just happens for a million different reasons. There are a million reasons why even a flawless gem of a productivity and time-management app won't make more money than you put into developing it. Ask the Chandler folks, incredibly smart and experienced people who set out to build the greatest calendaring/PIM/to-do-list eva... and failed.

batista 14y ago
>Dude, if success or failure actually hung on rhetoric (word-choice), there would be millions more start-ups "succeeding" today. Truer words were never spoken!

dools 14y ago

I try to do stuff all the time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Trying isn't the issue, it's stopping trying that results in failure.

smacktoward 14y ago

"Failure is not an option!" is a phrase that automatically annoys me when I hear it, because almost nobody who uses it actually understands what it means. It's usually used in the sense of "we have decided to rule out the possibility of failure." But that's not really what the phrase means. What it means is that you have exhausted every possibility other than succeeding. It means that, to borrow a poker term, you're "all in" -- you have gotten yourself into a position from which there are only two ways out: success, and utter ruin. This is what the screenwriters of the movie Apollo 13 were getting at when they coined the phrase (it's usually credited to NASA flight director Gene Kranz, but that's incorrect: see http://www.spaceacts.com/notanoption.htm http://www.spaceacts.com/notanoption.htm). When the Apollo 13 mission went awry, the NASA teams on the ground didn't have the option to accept failure, because failure meant the death of the three astronauts and probably the end of the moon landing program. There was literally nowhere else for the people involved to go. They were "all in" -- the astronauts especially, but even to some degree the men on the ground. (If you're a mission control specialist in 1970, and you get drummed out of NASA with the loss of three astronauts on your record, whaddaya gonna do, go work for the other space program down the street? Start your own? Your career is done.) What most of the people who use this phrase miss is that rarely are they actually in that deep. If your social video sharing startup fails, you've lost a couple years of your life, and maybe some money. But you're not ruined. You're still alive; you still have your skills and talents; you can still go get a job somewhere. If you're smart, people will probably even lend you money to try again someday. You're down, but not out. A true "failure is not an option" startup scenario would be one where, if the startup didn't take flight, you would lose every dollar and piece of property you own, all your academic and professional credentials would be revoked, and you'd be barred from ever working in technology again. That's what "all in" looks like. It's fucking terrifying. It's also much, much higher stakes than all but a few of us will every play for. Which is a good thing! But unless you're one of those few, if you go around talking about "failure is not an option," it makes you sound kind of stupid.

kstenerud 14y ago
Furthermore, if you do take entrepreneurship to that level, you are doing it wrong. Economic ruin is one thing, but gambling your ability to ever try again against such steep odds is fucking stupid. Entrepreneurs who succeed on their first try are extremely rare. Risk your entire fortune and the clothes on your back and the respect of your peers, but nothing more. Once you've hit rock bottom a few times, getting up again becomes second nature.
dredmorbius 14y ago
It wasn't until I read Neal Stephenson's Anatham that I could finally pin a name on this logical fallacy: Diax's Rake. "Never believe a thing simply because you want it to be true" http://anathem.wikia.com/wiki/Diaxs_Rake http://anathem.wikia.com/wiki/Diaxs_Rake As "failure is not an option" is typically used, it's an "abandon all logic and evidence and punt on faith" mode of operation I see far too often, in which the meaning isn't "we find it acceptable to fail", but "because of our blind faith in some belief, we set the possibility of failure as zero. Particularly in various business inspirational literature and Republican Party military, foreign, economic, energy, and environmental policies. Articles such as this one make me wish for an option to downvote, rather than simply flag, submissions.

losethos 14y ago

If SETI got one message every five years, would we listen. The same applies here, retards. ---- Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. ” 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know, ” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth. ” ---- Try to please God. Not everything is pleasing. God says... Way anxieties colours reverence showing Preacher affects respite scroll To omit attuned disposed particles maintaining possession purely hindrance soberly puffed turnest recalling ill-favoured banner IV failure toilsome reverently became does amend impair advising viper receive unlikeliness exquisitely eligible walks honourable gathers Take tardy star-gazers availed to heeded you're_out_of_your_mind reverse_engineer thereupon payest sorrows insult adding done file unteach winning dispense Greece aided aged hesitated subtle impunity weaving discourses mutable you_are_my_sunshine disappear absolute confidently difficult Excellently acquired saved spider's prelate contemporary baptised One_finger_salute another's Living execute such my_bad Donations AD reasoning befell pronounced rare shared refund Denmark scourgedst keeps love absorb exercise uninjuriousness transforming seasons venturing Tully's tear revealedst committed Animals inseparable horse cured changeable oh_no peradventure contempt lips oracles pollution equably crookedness gainful mid-day AM unlocked second Ivy_league taught wise lieth Orderer designs explanatory Wales chosen false-named solemnities are_you_insane hearts lowlily beholdest embrace testimony ---- What do I take on faith? Relativity.