Celebrating failure
When oh when will we get the development version of Failcamp?
As I wrote previously, it seems to me that the development sector needs fewer "lessons learned" documents - fully polished and sanitised so that they read more like PR pieces - and more honest, "raw" conversations about what worked, and, most importantly, what didn't.
Comments (6)
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Totally agree, Giulio. Unfortunately, raw lessons learned are so much harder to come by...
Posted by: Reth Kim | Jun 29, 2009 3:25:58 PM
Totally agree. This applies to all government policies, not only development. That is why we should apply openness as much as possible.
Posted by: david osimo | Jun 30, 2009 4:45:31 AM
Totally agree, but need to create a forum in which practitioners can share the raw lessons learned anonymously. There are too many institutional carrots and sticks against sharing the brutal facts in a public forum. And when everyone else puts a positive spin on their failures or "mixed successes", it makes honest assessments look that much worse. One suggestion is Easterly's AID Watch blog as a potential "Spin-free" zone.
Posted by: Jeff Barnes | Jun 30, 2009 1:31:52 PM
Here here! Kudos, Giulio, for practicing what you preach. This blog is a great start to said dialogue. Keep it up!
Posted by: JDW | Jul 10, 2009 6:59:38 PM
Good idea and how about a complaint site where partner organisations can express what they really experience?
Posted by: Joitske Hulsebosch | Jul 12, 2009 8:09:23 AM
Excellent idea, but it requires incredible high-level sponsorship and support to put staff at ease to share failures. A first step may be not to just share a failure but the success one has achieved based on a previous failed experience. That way, the emphasis isn't on the failure but on the successful learning from failure.
Posted by: Daniel de la Morena | Sep 21, 2009 4:59:52 PM