READING NOTE · UPDATED 2026
Make learning observable
A learning goal becomes useful when it changes what a team observes and how it decides. Completing a course or holding a retrospective is an activity, not proof of learning. Use this original note to frame one uncertainty in the work. Record what evidence would challenge the team’s present explanation, then arrange a review of that evidence.
A practical next step
- Write the assumption you want to examine.
- Choose an observation or trial that could challenge it.
- Record how the result changed the next decision.
This 2026 reading note is written by the Durnall editorial team. Richard Durnall’s original text follows below.
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The original words below retain their period and attribution. The reading note above is the current editorial addition.
Source capture · 2009-11-02 ↗This post was inspired by a comment from Andy Marks in a joint presentation he delivered with Martin Fowler to an audience in Melbourne yesterday. The presentation was on how to fail with Agile.
Andy asked the audience to put their hands in the air if they had ever read an e-mail from a manager within their business praising the success of a project. 100% of the hands in the audience went into the air. Andy then asked the audience to raise their hands if they had ever received a similar e-mail that was congratulating someone that had tried something bold and risky and had failed. No hands went into the air.
Today I had a conversation with an expert on innovation. He walked me through a very interesting model that he has developed that helps frame the dynamic of innovation within an organisation. He has three dimensions that he walks through, one of them being leadership. He argues that it’s the role of leaders to create a culture that accepts a degree of controlled failure, as it’s these activities that move the organisation forward.
Are we encouraging the right behaviours?…