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Failure Is Always an Option

Logic Bomb writes "The New York Times has a short but elegant op-ed regarding the different perspectives of engineers and managers and the role that plays in accidents like the space shuttle Columbia disaster. It's the sort of article you'll nod all the way through, then print and leave anonymously on your supervisor's desk. Any tech managers in the Slashdot crowd might have some interesting comments on how the right balance is struck." Henry Petroski has written several good books on engineering and failure.

12 of 479 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Fail? by MisterFancypants · · Score: 4, Funny
    Was it Thomas Edison that said, "I haven't failed. I just found 10,000 ways that didn't work."?

    We're gonna need a bunch more astronauts up in here.

  2. Demotivational... by bytesmythe · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sounds like a poster I've seen somewhere. That article title should definitely be made into a Demotivational product.

    --
    bytesmythe
    Hypocrisy is the resin that holds the plywood of society together.
    -- Scott Meyer
  3. anonymous by lone_marauder · · Score: 2, Funny

    If I anonymously placed this on my manager's desk, he would wander out and ask absently:

    --
    who are those slashdot people? they swept over like Mongol-Tartars.
  4. Love the title bar... by SillySlashdotName · · Score: 5, Funny

    I opened this at work, and the title bar reads:

    "Failure is always an option - Microsoft Internet Explorer"

    Gotta love it!

    --
    Acts of massive stupidity are almost never covered by warranty. --me.
    1. Re:Love the title bar... by cK-Gunslinger · · Score: 2, Funny

      You're actually lucky. Mine says:

      "Failure is Always an Option - Lotus Notes"

  5. Failure is not an option... by wcbarksdale · · Score: 3, Funny
    It's a standard part of the design.

    (blatantly stolen from fortune)

  6. Not an option by zeus_tfc · · Score: 4, Funny

    I work for an auto supplier. In one of the prototype plants, there was a banner for one of the new car's engineering team.

    "Failure is NOT and option."

    It struck me as odd at the time. It just doesn't sound like motivation. It strikes me as a negative way of looking at things. There was no "We can succeed together!" or "Hard work will pay off in the end!" Nope. Failure is not an option.

    Later I saw the perfect response in a magazine, and was disappointed that the banner was taken down before I could add it.

    "Failure is not an option; it comes standard with every vehicle."

    --
    "...At the end of the day"..."when everyone goes home, you're stuck with yourself." RIP Layne Staley
  7. Re:Fail? by Matrix272 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Actually, he said that "Genius was 10% inspiration, and 90% perspiration." He meant that you need just one good idea, and then the persistence to make it work.

    I don't think comparing Thomas Edison to a late 80's rock band does either much good. Edison was smart, but he couldn't play the guitar. Tesla can play a good version of Signs, and Getting Better, but to my knowledge, never invented anything that'll change mankind forever.

    --
    "It's better to have a gun and not need it than need a gun and not have it." ~ Christian Slater, True Romance
  8. if you want your supervisor to actually read it... by avi33 · · Score: 2, Funny

    wouldn't you have to have it translated into a dilbert cartoon first?

  9. Re:The Wrong Focus by Anonym0us+Cow+Herd · · Score: 2, Funny
    When lives are at stake, there has to be some failure analysis before-hand. You can't just write some software and, after it kills 10 people, say "oops, must be a bug."

    I resent that.

    This is not how professional software developers behave.

    What a real professional would say is one of....
    • Can you demonstrate that bug for me in a live situation? (the one that kills people)
    • It works on my machine
    • It's not a bug, it's a feature
    • We'll fix it in one of the upcomming service packs
    • (blame) it's not my bug
    --
    The price of freedom is eternal litigation.
  10. Re:The Wrong Focus by mopslik · · Score: 2, Funny

    We'll fix it in one of the upcomming service packs.

    AutoUpdate has detected that the following features are missing or corrupted:

    - arm
    - shoulder
    - chest

    Would you like to install or upgrade now?

  11. Re:Can it really be fixed? by nobbis · · Score: 2, Funny

    You're grammar sucks.