Time to get over the fear of failure

If Staci Scott was put in charge of New Zealand’s digital future, she’d swing the spotlight onto failure – and why companies need to make mistakes while there’s still time to make them.

A lot of New Zealand-based businesses can’t afford the luxury of failing fast or testing and learning, says The Warehouse Group’s e-Commerce Product Manager.

“This stifles innovation and prevents businesses from trying new tech, processes, and solutions, in turn putting themselves at risk as the international market leads the charge in disruption.”

Staci’s warning carries plenty of weight. She was recently recognised as an emerging ICT leader at the NZ CIO Awards, and was TWG’s Digital Team Member of the Year for 2017.

In other words, Staci knows what’s going on.

At TWG, Staci sits at the intersection between the customer, the company, and the technology that brings them together – and we’re proud to have her with us. But what if she were to answer the call of Queen and country by stepping into the role of the NZ Government’s Chief Technology Officer?

“I would develop ‘labs’ to enable local businesses to learn about, access, and trial tech in a financially risk-adverse way,” Staci tells us.

“I’d also focus on building an affordable talent pool, facilitating customer insights, forming strategic partnerships between businesses, and providing research, analysis and education into the New Zealand market.”

Staci says local companies aren’t short on good ideas, but they could become “true disruptors” if they were empowered to test ideas and products without launching them in the market, and if they partnered-up with likeminded businesses to share costs, resources, and knowledge.

The 29-year-old says the emergence of customer-led design work in the digital space has seen more engineering and development roles being performed by women than before.

“There is now more of a blend of tech and business, and plenty more roles that enable people to work in tech without a specialist engineering background.”

Staci says a bit of technical know-how can go a long way, and that there is a range of ways to pick it up. Tertiary papers, free online courses, blogs, podcasts, or even a good old-fashioned brain-picking session with friends can give any tech-curious person something to think about.

Good advice is always welcome, too. On that note, Staci gives us this pearl:

“Being open and receptive to change is critical in an industry where things change daily – there is always a new or better way to try something.”