In my neck of the woods we have several ice cream shops that are part of the Bruster's Real Ice Cream franchise.  Let me tell you:  they have good ice cream.  In the dead of winter you will find people at the drive-through window ordering their favorite flavors.  I know they've certainly gotten their share of money from my family!

Every week since January, however, we've been passing by one of Bruster's locations that has a sign up that reads "Will Reopen Feb".  It's April, and they're still not open.  I don't know if this store is gone for good, but whatever the case, no "cold gold" is being served up right now.

That got me to thinking about why franchises fail.  There seems to be some variation in the actual numbers, but it is commonly reported that less than 5% of all franchises fail.  Researching the topic on the internet yields a large number of reasons, some of which seem entirely valid:

1. Location: one of the fundamentals of any good business is where you put it.  A bad location can often lead to failure.
2. Competition: knowing who you're up against, and what sets you apart from them.  Underestimating your competition, failing to distinguish yourself, or jumping in where too much already exists can lead to failure.
3. Marketing: communicating to your market why you deserve their business.  Not communicating, communicating poorly, or communicating the wrong message can lead to failure.
4. Money: investment is equivalent to commitment.  Failure to attract sufficient capital can make small bumps in the road look like the Rockies.

The real reason this interests me is simple: franchises are patterns.  When a business is successful, the attempt to duplicate that success often takes the form of a franchise.  One of the most important steps in successfully franchising a business is to derive consistently reproducible processes and getting the franchisees to follow that process.  So, in essence, it is finding "process patterns" for the "franchise pattern".

It doesn't take a genius to see where this is going: software architects and engineers live in the world of patterns.  Whether or not you consciously research patterns and apply them to your craft, you could almost certainly look at your work (if you've been at it for any length of time) and begin to see similarities in the approaches you've taken in solving problems.  If you've designed one data access layer, you've designed a hundred.

So why do successfully described patterns fail during implementation?  Consider these reasons:

1. Failure to understand the problem: acquiring a complete understanding or the problem you are trying to solve will dramatically increase your chances of success.
2. Failure to understand the pattern: understanding what problem the pattern is designed to solve will help you successfully match the "cure" with the "disease."
3. Failure to implement the whole pattern: if you find yourself implementing bits-and-pieces of a pattern, you've probably chosen the wrong pattern.

Patterns are typically designed as best-of-breed solutions, and there are usually variations of each pattern to fit specific problems.  If you find yourself deviating from a pattern, then you need to make sure you understand the full impact of your actions.  When followed properly, patterns provide solid benefits and enable you to increase your confidence in the result.

Like franchises, sometimes patterns fail, and they do, the result can be disastrous.  Most of the time, they are successful if they are followed properly. In general, patterns are in place to help avoid failure, but then again, so are do-it-yourself auto repair guides!