The Foreign Service Journal, February 2007

T homas Alva Edison famously observed that “Success is 1 percent inspiration and 99 per- cent perspiration.” So it should not be surprising to learn that he conducted almost 3,000 experiments between 1878 and 1880, testing and discarding hundreds of theories, before he finally succeeded in inventing the light bulb. The same is true of many other inven- tions we take for granted today. Mindful of that history, the American private sector generally rec- ognizes that experimental failure is the only sure path to success. For instance, IBM actually rewards engi- neers who “fail,” because achieving such a result reflects initiative — which is invariably more risky — as well as creativity. And in a recent Business Week article, Thomas D. Kuczmarski even went so far as to propose that companies hold “failure parties” as a way of recognizing that failure is part of the creative process. Regrettably, the public sector gen- erally does not share this benign view of experimentation. But earlier this year, the State Department showed that it can learn from its mistakes. The State Messaging and Archive Retrieval Toolset, a centralized searchable archive encompassing cables, e-mails and memos, was intended to replace the department’s World War II-era telegram system. However, despite years of planning and testing and a large investment of resources, the SMART project did not meet the nec- essary requirements put forth by IRM. The “safe” thing to do under those circumstances would be to install patches to make the product appear to fulfill the design configurations, hand out awards and promotions to the participants, and expect users to just learn to live with a ‘not-ready-for- prime-time’ application. Instead, the Bureau of Information Resource Management did something rare and refreshing in government: It publicly acknowledged failure and stopped the project. And now, after IRM re-eval- uated the entire program and basical- ly started from scratch, the SMART application is back on track and the goal is in reach. Embracing New Thinking I salute that gutsy move, as should everyone in State who will eventually use the application. However, one leap into the scientific method of experimentation does not change a department’s culture. Even with the implementation of new technology, embassies throughout the world are still essentially running the same way they did a hundred years ago. They have the same old stovepipe com- mand structure and the same bottle- neck reporting system that all too often leads to duplication of reporting among sections and agencies at posts. Far from freeing Foreign Service personnel from the mindlessness of mediocrity and repetition, technology has actually reinforced old, inefficient ways of conducting diplomatic rela- tions. It serves as a mere add-on to an existing infrastructure that no one dares touch. Today, contrary to the expectations of many analysts, more and more sys- tems and applications are better suited and more economically maintained in one central location. Thomas Fried- man’s book The World Is Flat attribut- es this trend to a trillion dollars’ worth of over-investment in fiber-optic cables during the “dot.com ” boom and bust of the last decade. What was once an expensive endeavor is now an inexpensive option. Having a data- base located a thousand miles away is no longer technologically awe-inspir- ing but routine. But hardware and software are not the only items that can benefit from centralization. Staff positions can also be centralized with significant cost savings and increased safety. Bringing Embassies into the 21st Century We can use experimentation and technology to build a better embassy from the ground up by asking the fol- lowing questions. What are the pur- poses, the objectives, and the accom- The Lost Art of Experimentation B Y M ICHAEL B RICKER S PEAKING O UT 16 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 7 Even with new technology, embassies are still essentially running the same way they did a century ago.