Three Tech Bro phrases that have no place in education…

1. Move fast and break things.

This phrase was the former internal motto of Facebook (now Meta), allegedly coined by CEO Mark Zuckerberg to prioritise rapid innovation, software development and iterative experimentation over slow, cautious perfection.

The philosophy argued that if you aren’t breaking some things, you are likely moving too slowly. If we put aside that I quite like the idea of cautious perfection, I think we have had ample opportunity now to see where this model takes us. Disruption, while often a force for change, has not always been kind to us. Certainly not this type of disruption. It has caused real-world harms – I’m thinking about privacy violations, .

We sometimes talk about a VUCA world, one which is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. Education’s main job is to prepare students for the world, why would we want them to inhabit a world full of intentional harm.

Moving fast and breaking things just leads to broken things. I am tired of it.

2. “It’s like we’re building the airplane in midair.”

“Building the plane while flying it” is an idiom for launching a project, strategy, or business while simultaneously developing its processes and structure, rather than planning everything beforehand. Often used in tech, this approach represents extreme agility, enabling rapid innovation but risking chaos and disorder.

I first heard this phrase in 2013, around the time of the MYP’s Next Chapter. It seemed to perfectly encapsulate that exciting feeling of innovating and reacting in real time. We were working it out as we went, fixing problems in exciting, if sometimes jagged ways.

Thirteen years later, I hear this phrase all the time around AI.

My problem with this one is not only that I am tired of it but also it shows a deep disregard for safety. What kind of lunatic would let you take off in an unfinished plane? Who do we expect to be out there on the wing, fixing as we go, Tom Cruise?

Furthermore, we can’t keep in this perilous flight pattern for ever. Sooner rather than later, we need to land the plane. Schools engulfed in AI have enough turbulence without adding mechanical problems (take it from a nervous flyer).

The schools we work with hunger for a “glide path” not a reckless, in-flight mechanic! We need to get to our destination and allow our cortisol levels to drop, being agile and innovative without chaos and disorder.

Is my hatred of this phrase a function of my age? Probably.

Connected to my fear of flying? Likely.

Is it a function of experience in education? Almost certainly.

3. Ask for forgiveness, not permission.

Nope. This one can jog on. I am very, very tired of this phrase. It is often said with a wry smile or a knowing wink and it echoes the sentiment of “Move fast and break things.”

According to Gemini “Ask for forgiveness, not permission” is often attributed to Rear Admiral Grace Hopper and is a philosophy advocating for taking initiative and acting on good judgment rather than waiting for approval, which can lead to delays.

Anyone who knows me, will agree that I have a bias to action. I love getting shit done. Yesterday. But it assumes good judgment on the part of Tech and I don’t think they have given us sufficient reason to trust theirs.

The bigger problem is that no one seems to be asking for forgiveness. This is simply an indulgence, a witty way to say “I am going to do what I want to do and we can worry about consequences later”. And education should not be expected to be the injured party here. Maybe ask our permission first before you waste our time, energy, attention and resources on “innovations” that fizzle out. I’m looking at you, Kahnmigo.

One that I still like but think we should be more careful with:

4. “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett

For example this article makes a lovely argument for it but the problem is that again it is used as a “get out of jail free card” for those who want to ignore the consequences of their mistakes.

Here I am, at Google in March. The face belies the fact that I had just had a delicious lunch and a fascinating day, spent with very interesting people. But when I saw this mural by the toilets, I was TRIGGERED ladies and gentlemen…

I wonder what Samuel Beckett would make of the co-opting of this phrase? Where the tech sector uses it to move on from their failures with no reflection, zero accountability and little introspection. Given that his writing style is defined by minimalism, absurdity, and profound existential bleakness, he might have enjoyed the irony.

I think we need better, deeper, more ponderous catchphrases for Big Tech if they want to play in Education. I propose:

“Innovation is not doing violence to the current regime – it is willfully knocking yourself out of orbit – trading certainty for ambiguity” from Timothy R. Clark. I don’t know where I heard it, probably a podcast, but it stopped me in my tracks.

We should be innovating in education through intellectual friction, creative abrasion, collaborative and creative tension at best. We must knock ourselves, not others, out of orbit to innovate preserving what is good and making deliberate, thoughtful changes in education. Rant over.