My software requirements business might fail spectacularly, despite painstaking efforts to avoid this outcome. It wouldn’t be anything like Fyre Festival, I’m sure, but it would still be a public embarrassment. Deep down, I guess that’s what I fear. Also the fear of admitting the prior two years of publicly backing ‘better software requirements’ was a complete waste of time.
What if I had got it completely wrong, ruining my professional credibility in the process, and doing myself out of all future work? Humiliation, otherwise known as ‘getting caught with your pants down’, is such an uncomfortable, very primitive emotion, we instinctively avoid as humans.
Honestly, I had no idea that starting a business would be so hard, so much harder than my successful contracting career. Nor did I realise the odds are very much stacked against even the best of business ideas. Lining up all components of the ‘proposition — customer need — willingness to pay — ability to deliver’ equation is where the difficulty lies, a simple explanation of a complex interplay.
Sure, I could reframe any business failure as a ‘learning journey’ and publicly profess the value of such an experience; but deep down, I wouldn’t be able to hide from the fact I had failed (and not in the softened ‘failed’ with quotes kind of way). I obviously believe ‘better software requirements’ are much needed, and the research with potential clients indicates this too, however I wouldn’t be the first ‘founder’ (nb. I always wanted to use that word) who later discovered a big pair of ‘rose tinted glasses’ had been sitting on their nose.
I’m kind of ousting myself here, acknowledging the possible future failure of my very public experiment I embarked upon. Shouldn’t I just keep quiet, polishing the veneer of my nicely branded enterprise? Maybe, yes, however a long held belief in transparency and ‘co-creation in public’ still motivates me to write openly, and without fear of what the future may bring. Feedback and reader reactions are useful learning loops, and a good many folk have helped me gaze into blind spots and face uncomfortable, sometimes painful, truths.
Our motto is ‘Better software requirements can change the world’, something we really do believe in. This has been my ‘magic moment of vulnerability’ and thanks for reading. Whether it ends in success, failure, or something in between, one thing is certain: I’ll keep writing about the unfolding events of Better Software UK. I’m glad you have been following along with the journey so far.