10 immutable laws of mistakes

Cool article. In addition to point 9, I would add that mistakes typically have consequences and sometimes those consequences are pretty tough. I think a fear of these consequences is why a lot of folks try to dodge blame. However, like the article says, accepting responsibility with humility and bearing the consequences (sometimes over a period of time) is the right course of action.

Odd that the article is missing any of Gordon Moore's quotes on mistakes:

“One thing a leader does is to remove the stigma of mistakes. People who are afraid of making mistakes all the time just don’t try anything.”

and my fav

“If everything you try works, then you are not trying hard enough.”

Yes, computers can make mistakes propagate faster. But its also true computers allow you to correct many mistakes very easily and therefore free you to take action because the cost of mistakes is much lower.

In the days before word processing, for example, if you left out a word on a page, you pretty had to retype a document. Now, you can make a thousand changes before you decide to print. And now you don't even have to print most of the time.

Think its tough dealing with a software bug? Fix it and everybody downloads the fix. Make a hardware mistake and millions of machines need to be taken apart one at a time.

Good stuff. I've found that there are two kinds of people in the world. Those, like me, who ENJOY making mistakes. And those that are afraid of making mistakes.

If you are not falling down, you're not trying hard enough.