ReverseRunning commentary
W
instonChurchill said
“Hewho fails to
plan isplanning to
fail”. I think it is fair to say that
whenyoubeginbuildingyour
layout or amodel, youdon't
want to fail.
Youwant successandquick
success isevenbetter. In fact,
muchofour limitedhobbytime
isspentplanningandbuilding
with thegoalof
avoiding failure.
Inall humanendeavors, especially if youarebuilding some-
thingnew, some failure is inevitable. Howabout adopting the
ideaof failing faster,wasting fewer resources in the learning
process, andgetting towhatwillworkquicker?
This canbe seenas taking the chainsaw layout concept a step
further
down to
individualmodelingprojects.
For example, haveyouever consideredbuildinga testmodel
just to seewhat doesn'twork?No, I don'tmeanbuilda fully
detailedmodel to thenthdegree, but rather a so-called “mini-
mally viable”model, sort of a chainsawmodel, if youwill.
Entrepreneursoftenhavean idea for aproduct or service that
theybelieveotherswillwant. They spendtimedeveloping
their ideaandfinallyput it out on themarket.
ReverseRunning: Steppingoutside theboxwithacontraryview
byDonHanley
Failing faster?
Usuallywhat happens is the response isnot as enthusiastic as
theyhadhoped for because some things aren’t quite right.
Sowhat do the smart onesdo?The successful ones "pivot",
that is, theykeepwhatwas goodand changewhat isn’twork-
ingand tryagain. Ultimately, theybecome successfulwhile still
maintaining someessenceof their original idea.
Thinkof abasketball playerandhispivot foot.Abasketball
playermust keepone foot in the sameposition (thepivot foot),
buthecan turn360
o
from thatposition.Do the same thing:
work fromyour coregoalswithin thehobby (yourpivot foot)but
examinedifferentwaysof achieving thosegoals.
At thesametime,don't totallyabandonyourplan.Maybe it'sa
narrowgaugemining line,maybe it'sCajonPass.Have faith inyour
corepassion, givingyour ideasand techniquestime todevelop.
Buildwith thegoal of learningwhatdoesn'twork, andkeep
notes: all ofus seem to sufferattimes fromCRS (can’t remem-
ber stuff).
Thenotesdon't need tobedetailed, but enough tokeepyou
on track. As youwork through thiswholeprocess, youmaydis-
cover anewmaterial, or anewmethodology.
If that happens, then youhavean idea thatwill bebeneficial to
other readersbecauseof your pivoting, gvingyou thebasis for
anarticle to sharewith theMRH family.
Theadvantageof taking this approach todoing thehobby is
the risk is generallyquite low, but thebenefits are likelyquite
high. For hobbypursuits, there’s fewmajor financial conse-
quences for failure like thereare for anewbusiness startup.
Are youwilling to take the challenge?Will you go ahead and
launchout, go ahead and learnby doing, knowing there’s
going tobe some failure along theway?
MRH-Apr2014
