The concept of ‘fast-failing’ has become synonymous with the tech industry’s agile development methodologies. It revolves around the idea of embracing failure as a stepping stone to rapid innovation and success. This adaptive and responsive approach can be applied beyond its Silicon Valley confines. For an organization like the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), the incorporation of fast-fail techniques can be a game-changer in how it evolves to meet contemporary and future challenges.
The concept of trying something new or adapting to an enemy advantage is commonplace on the battlefield. Why do we not embrace it in everyday defence business then?
This is the first in a series of fast-fail defence articles. *
Embracing Agile Methodology in Defence
In a traditional defence organizational structure, change can be slow, methodical, and risk-averse. While such traits are often essential in ensuring the reliability and security of national defence mechanisms, they can also hinder adaptability and swift problem-solving. Here’s where fast-fail comes into play.
By integrating fast-fail techniques, the NZDF can encourage a culture of innovation that is not deterred by setbacks. Fast-fail promotes the idea of testing out concepts, strategies, and technologies on a small scale and with a readiness to pivot or abandon the project quickly if it doesn’t yield the expected results. This can be done in various aspects of the NZDF, from administrative processes to tactical field operations.
Implementing Fast-Fail Strategies
1. Prototyping New Technologies
The NZDF could create a dedicated innovation lab tasked with prototyping emerging technologies. This unit would work on a rapid development cycle, pushing out concepts for testing and feedback, without the fear of repercussions if an idea fails. This could lead to groundbreaking advancements in areas such as cybersecurity, unmanned systems, and communication technologies.
2. Tactical Experimentation
In the field, the NZDF can conduct small-scale tactical experiments to test new operational concepts. By doing so, they can quickly determine what tactics can be scaled up for broader application or abandoned without significant resource expenditure.
3. Policy Development
Even in the realm of policy-making, fast-fail techniques can streamline the process. By developing policies in a modular fashion, assessing their impact iteratively, and adjusting them before a full-scale roll-out, the NZDF can stay ahead of the curve in adapting to the dynamic geopolitical environment.
4. Training and Simulations
Training programs can be revolutionized with fast-fail methods. Simulations incorporating a variety of scenarios can rapidly teach adaptability and problem-solving, with immediate feedback loops to help refine tactics and strategies.
The Benefits of Fast-Fail
Implementing fast-fail methodologies provides the NZDF with a plethora of benefits, including:
· Increased Innovation: By allowing for small failures, the NZDF can foster a culture where innovation is not just encouraged but is a standard operational procedure.
· Resource Efficiency: Fast-fail techniques ensure that resources are not heavily invested in projects with low success potential, thereby optimizing the allocation of the defence budget.
· Enhanced Responsiveness: The ability to adapt and respond to failures quickly ensures that the NZDF can keep pace with the rapid changes in technology and warfare.
Challenges
Of course, there are also some potential challenges to adopting fast-fail techniques. These include:
· The need for a culture of openness and learning: Fast-failing only works if there is a culture of openness and learning in the organization. People need to feel comfortable taking risks and admitting mistakes.
· The need for a tolerance for failure: Fast-failing means that there will be some failures. The organization needs to be able to tolerate these failures and learn from them.
· The need for clear goals and metrics: Fast-failing needs to be focused on achieving specific goals. The organization needs to have clear metrics in place to measure progress.
Examples Worldwide
Here are some examples of how different defence forces have applied fast-fail or similar agile methodologies:
1.United States Department of Defense (DoD) – Defense Innovation Unit (DIU): The DIU utilizes commercial innovation to solve national defense problems, often employing a fast-fail approach in its collaboration with tech companies to prototype and field advanced commercial solutions quickly.
2. The British Army, Research, Innovation and Experimentation Laboratory (ARIEL): ARIEL uses rapid experimentation and prototyping to accelerate the delivery of innovative solutions to soldiers on the ground. They encourage fast-fail approaches to learning and development.
3. Australian Defence Force (ADF) – Plan Jericho: This initiative seeks to transform the RAAF into a more adaptive and innovative force. It encourages testing new ideas and technology rapidly and being willing to fail fast and learn.
4. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) – Unit 8200: Known for its innovation and technological advancements, this intelligence unit employs fast-fail techniques in developing cyber tools and intelligence processes, often iterating quickly on new ideas.
5. Canadian Armed Forces – Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) Program: This program supports the development of solutions to defense and security challenges with a focus on innovation, using fast-fail approaches to prototype and test new ideas.
6. French Defence Innovation Agency: This agency applies a fast-fail approach to foster innovation within the French Armed Forces, quickly prototyping and testing new technologies and methodologies.
7. NATO – Innovation Hub: The NATO Innovation Hub adopts a fast-fail mentality in its quest for rapid development and delivery of innovative solutions that can benefit the Alliance, emphasizing learning from failure as much as from success.
8. Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) – Digital and Intelligence Service: As the SAF modernizes, it integrates fast-fail methods in the development of digital and intelligence capabilities, pushing for rapid prototyping and iterative development.
These examples represent a trend among modern defence organizations to adopt more agile, resilient approaches to innovation and capability development, learning quickly from failures to adapt and overcome the fast-paced changes in technology and warfare tactics.
Conclusion
For the NZDF, adopting fast-fail techniques is not about lowering standards or accepting defeat. Instead, it’s about cultivating resilience, adaptability, and a forward-thinking mindset. By integrating these methods, the NZDF can transform itself into a more dynamic and innovative organization, ready to face the multifaceted challenges of the 21st century and beyond.
There are some small programmes like the Defence Technology Agency and the Knowledge Enabled Army project as part of the Adaptive Warfighting Centre. However, there is no over-arching mindset or sense of urgency in the NZDF culture at large. I have recently published on the need to democratize and gamify all NZDF knowledge.
This framework outlines a progressive approach where failure is not a setback but a vital component of the learning and development process, which could be essential in ensuring the NZDF remains a robust and future-ready force.
#UNCLAS #NZDefenceInsights
* This article is based on “merged AI results” i.e. several different AI engines asked the same questions. This approach is part of the author’s own fail-fast experiments in assessing how to rapidly upscale the amount of easily accessible content available in the New Zealand national security conversation.
Blatant Advertising Bit: Have you read my short story trilogy “A Poke in the Fifth Eye”? It’s available in Kindle format for only 99c. A ripping good yarn about dirty bomb drone swarms in Wellington New Zealand, a couple of destroyed spy bases, an air force base on fire and only a hastily assembled bunch of Kiwi reservists standing between the terrorists and their ultimate goal. Doing well in the Amazon 45-Minute Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Short Reads rankings.
Coming soon – a Kiwi crime thriller involving gangs, drugs and some not so straight cops!
A Poke in the Fifth Eye by Simon Roberts. Book Cover. Available on Amazon Kindle
New Zealand's National Security 