Software Development and Postmortems

And talking about client communication — honesty is your only policy. If it's a security breach and it's time to call the cops, then do it. No second-guessing. Your integrity and your company's reputation are hanging by a thread. This is where you earn your stripes as a leader. No sugarcoating, no evasive maneuvers. Just straight talk, responsibility, and a clear path to damage control.

Look at aviation or construction engineering. In these fields, post-mortems are conducted with a near-religious fervor. When a plane crashes or a bridge collapses, experts meticulously pick apart every detail, from mechanical failures to human errors. It's a brutal, often sobering process, but it's how these industries have achieved remarkable safety records. They embrace the hard truth that the best lessons are often written in the aftermath of failure.

In the end, the only real failure is the failure to learn from our mistakes. That's what post-mortems are all about – turning our f*ck-ups into future successes.