Is German fear of failure holding them back in all things internet?
Just as we finally decided to pounce on the quality of web searches in German, the digital age commentator of Der Spiegel online declares that manifold failures in the German internet realm are basically caused by a "German fear of failure".
Continuous innovation, the willingness to make mistakes, a culture of learning, overcoming the German aversion towards "Learning by doing"-- all of these are said by the author of the epistle to be what this country needs to live up to the promises and riches of the internet.
The K-landnews team's decades of computing and internet experience do support some of these arguments some of the time.
It is telling that the article written in German contains the phrase "Learning by doing" in English.
Yet, we disagree with these premises.
Yes, they do strange things, for instance in online banking. They made you buy a separate device that generates a pin. The government job center folks make you wait at least a week after signing up before they send you a PIN in the mail.
We believe that Germans tend to focus on products in an unhealthy way: make a product, and people will buy it. So, technical innovation by itself doesn't do it. Neither Facebook nor Oracle, or many others, were very innovative -- but they did compete successfully against established players.
The culture we like to see as group oriented and consensus focused at the same time heralds the individual craftsman, making it hard to find a plumber or an electrician willing to listen and adapt.
All in all, scolding the Germans as fearful and risk averse doesn't cut it in my opinion.
Entrenched groups and structures simply have an easy life around here. One hundred years ago, this place was a monarchy with famously tight hierarchies, and the remnants are there for all to see.
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