Originally published in Forbes.
Companies are under immense pressure to keep innovating and delivering software quickly. Yet, this drive for speed can come at the expense of software stability—but it doesn’t have to.
In tech, the mantra "Move fast and break things" is well understood. However, in today's landscape, is "breaking things" really necessary?
From the infamous moth that took down Harvard’s Mark II in 1947 to today’s disruptions, like the widespread outage this summer that impacted everything from airlines to hotels and banks to hospitals, bugs have always posed a risk in computing. Although engineers are no longer battling literal bugs, the risk of buggy software is only continuing to increase as code output and the pace of innovation climb and our software systems become more and more interconnected. This problem is only exacerbated by the belief that breaking things isn't only an acceptable part of the process but a necessary one. It's not.
Implementing The Fundamentals
It’s time to reject the belief that bugs, breaks and outages are just part of the software development process. Although speed is essential for competitiveness, software failures aren't. The reality is that effective risk management practices are vital for sustainable innovation. And not only that, but these practices are already mainstream—your teams just aren’t using them.
To innovate quickly without losing quality, tech leaders need to weave a few smart risk management practices into their development workflow, starting with progressive rollouts. This means releasing new features to a small group of users first, so you can get real feedback while keeping an eye on performance.
Similarly, automated monitoring tools are essential—they help spot issues and performance errors in real time, so your team can act on them quickly. Instant rollbacks are another necessity; if a new feature ends up causing trouble, your teams can quickly revert to a previous version and keep things running. Other capabilities like targeted segmentation and runtime configuration management can also help contain any issues and prevent them from affecting everyone at once.
Implementing these fundamentals is standard practice for many global organizations. You and your teams should know what these best practices are, but the real question is: Are you putting them into action? If not, you could be on the fast track to a headline that you probably don’t want to see.
Cultivating A Culture Of Excellence
However, technology alone isn't enough—a cultural shift is also required. A company culture that prioritizes both speed and preparedness is fundamental to sustained and scalable innovation. Organizations that invest in continuous learning and development foster a workforce that's equipped to handle the many complexities of modern technology landscapes. With the right planning, processes and platforms, you can transform your organizational mindset from one of reckless innovation to thoughtful progression.
It’s not just large-scale projects that drive this culture; I'm passionate about empowering everyone on our team—whether they’re a marketer or a senior developer—to generate and deploy great ideas swiftly. Our regular Moonshots hackathon invites anyone in the company to present ideas they believe will move the needle for us or our customers. These are voted on by a representative cross-section of the company and considered for addition to our product roadmap. The swift development and deployment of these concepts, utilizing the fundamentals from above, are how we can harness our team’s passion and creativity in a controlled environment.
And just as importantly, as an executive team, we support this dynamic by adhering to core operating principles that emphasize both agility and ownership, particularly "Get Your 80/20 Rolling" and "Drive Like an Owner." These principles guide our managers in fostering a mindset that balances innovation with the need for thoughtful product delivery.
Organizations that are able to balance risk and innovation could reap numerous benefits. They build a reputation for reliability, attracting and retaining customers who value dependable service. And at the same time, internally, a stable environment boosts employee morale and productivity.
As we continue to adjust to the changes that AI and other tech advancements are bringing, adopting a strategy that embraces both innovation velocity and risk management is no longer optional—it's vital. By fostering an environment where innovation is balanced with operational excellence, leaders can ensure that their organizations “move fast” and thrive in the digital era, with no breaking required.
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