Eddie and Morgan delve into a listener's question about dealing with costly mistakes at work, particularly focusing on the tension between accountability and blame within engineering teams. They analyze a real-world dilemma faced by a new director of engineering at a series B startup and extend the discussion to include learnings from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. They discuss the difference between meta root causes of mistakes, strategies to create a risk-aware culture, and the importance of psychological safety. They also reflect on the principle of 'move fast and break things' and its relevance to different business models.

(00:00) - Listener's Question: Balancing Proactiveness and Reactiveness
(01:34) - Meeting the Team Where It Is
(02:49) - Introduction to the Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster
(04:52) - Organizational Barriers and Failures
(07:12) - Analyzing Public Postmortems
(08:08) - Root Causes of Production Problems
(14:35) - Meta Root Causes and Organizational Impact
(19:08) - Applying Meta Root Causes to the Columbia Disaster
(21:00) - Relevance to Smaller Companies
(23:22) - The Importance of Risk Management
(23:49) - Meta Root Cause: Prioritization Challenges
(24:53) - Psychological Safety in the Workplace
(25:51) - DEI Programs and Industry Trends
(26:43) - Generational Differences in Work Culture
(29:36) - Decision-Making Frameworks
(30:31) - Addressing Burnout and Low Drive
(35:32) - Handling Mistakes and Accountability
(43:35) - The Role of Mistakes in Engineering Cultures

Managing Mistakes

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