> To clarify, by “project,” I’m talking about something that’s large and customer-facing. Not a back-end Unicode migration or new integration test system or a plumbing job to redirect data flows or some incremental new feature on an existing product.
Well, sure, if you restrict the definition of "project" to large high-risk software development, it may be true that most may fail. But in addition to the large projects under my belt, I've built literally hundreds of small, safe apps that offered incremental improvements to existing business processes, and they almost universally succeed.
So I'd have the opposite conclusion of the article. No, don't learn from VCs. Don't aim high and expect to fail. Don't look for large projects and expect them to transform your business. Do look for the small steps that take you towards your goals, and work the ones that have the highest impact for the lowest risk.
And in all honesty, most of the software work in the corporate world fits that mold. It just doesn't get any press because it is boring. Stable, but boring.
Well, sure, if you restrict the definition of "project" to large high-risk software development, it may be true that most may fail. But in addition to the large projects under my belt, I've built literally hundreds of small, safe apps that offered incremental improvements to existing business processes, and they almost universally succeed.
So I'd have the opposite conclusion of the article. No, don't learn from VCs. Don't aim high and expect to fail. Don't look for large projects and expect them to transform your business. Do look for the small steps that take you towards your goals, and work the ones that have the highest impact for the lowest risk.
And in all honesty, most of the software work in the corporate world fits that mold. It just doesn't get any press because it is boring. Stable, but boring.