“Steve, your idea is not half-baked. It’s already overcooked.”
That was the response I got when sharing a proposal that I thought was not yet ready for feedback.
I hadn’t yet polished up every corner and figured out an answer to every possible objection.
I didn’t realize that the fundamental structure of the idea was flawed. I had waited too long to bring others into the discussion.
A few weeks ago I posted about the fear of finding out, or FOFO. A conversation about that post with John Bach highlighted the relevance of that fear to the discipline of Software Testing. It brought to mind a question I once heard asking why we test software. Some people answered that we test software to make sure it works. Others answered that we test software to find out where it doesn’t work, so we can fix it. Those two different answers reflected two different mindsets, which resulted in two different approaches to test design. One was designed to pass; the other was designed to find failures.
The same trap awaits you when you’re testing ideas or proposals.
If your focus is on making sure your idea will succeed before you share it, your idea, like mine, will probably be overcooked.
But if you can invite and accept brutal criticism while your idea is still just beginning to take shape, then your collaborative efforts together can create an even more innovative idea that will be more likely to succeed over the long term.
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