Humans of HTX: The art of failing forward

• Allan Loi’s career has been defined by curiosity, resilience and a willingness to step into unfamiliar territory.
• His childhood love for science, nature and hands-on exploration shaped a lifelong habit of learning through experimentation.
• Allan sees failure as a necessary part of growth, a mindset reinforced through pursuits such as gymnastics, cooking, gardening and music.
• He strongly identifies with HTX’s “fail forward” culture, believing that meaningful innovation comes from trying, learning and improving.

Throughout his career, Allan Loi has worked on everything from explosives and armaments to drones, robotics, strategy and digital transformation.

But if you ask the director of HTX's Policing Programme Management Centre (PPMC) what ties all those seemingly different experiences together, his answer is surprisingly simple: curiosity.

"I've always liked learning new things," he mused.

Inquisitiveness has always been second nature to Allan. Growing up, he was an ardent collector of Young Scientist badges in primary school and would he take on projects related to not one, but multiple disciplines, including ecology, botany, physics and astronomy.

He also relished the outdoor trips with his father to the parks and forest clearings in Yishun where they lived, during which he would catch pond skaters, dragonfly nymphs, guppies and tadpoles just so he could better observe them at home.

To Allan, the world was less a place to live in and more a giant mystery waiting to be unravelled.

And his interests stretched far beyond science – he played basketball and volleyball, joined a lion dance troupe, learned the guitar and developed a fascination with martial arts movies. Determined to emulate the acrobatic heroes he admired on screen, he even joined the school gymnastics club to learn flips and somersaults.

What he gained, however, was something far more valuable than flashy moves.

"Gymnastics taught me resilience," he recalled.

"There were many failed attempts, falls and injuries. Sometimes my palms would be covered with bleeding blisters. But these were more than just wounds – these were valuable lessons on how to improve.”

A healthy fixation

While many people measure success by achievements, Allan tends to focus on the process of growing his capabilities. He is quick to dismiss the idea that he has excelled because of natural talent.

"I don't think I'm particularly gifted," he laughed. "I've simply become very comfortable rolling with the punches."

This steely mindset explains why his career has taken him through such a remarkable range of roles.

Following his National Service, during which he served as an instructor at the Officer Cadet School, Allan gravitated towards the Defence Science & Technology Agency (DSTA) scholarship in mechanical engineering because of his interest in defence technology and his natural inclination towards engineering.

This move, he recalled, was at odds with what many of his peers ended up doing.

“Many of my close friends decided to become career soldiers. But I wasn’t keen to chiong sua (charge up hills, in Hokkien). So I thought I’d do something that could provide soldiers with the technology to chiong instead,” he laughed.

“I guess I also wanted a job that would be meaningful and allow me to make a difference to society. I’ve never been the kind of person who is interested in making lots of money. I knew I couldn’t run my own business because I’m not a salesman. Selling koyok is just not my style.”

Driven by his insatiable sense of curiosity, Allan willingly stepped into unfamiliar territory whenever opportunities arose in the following years. This included working with armaments like the 25mm naval stabilised weapon system, developing explosives meant for use by the elite Special Forces, improving public safety capabilities, evaluating emerging threats and even exploring unmanned systems.

This willingness to venture beyond his comfort zone eventually brought him to HTX in 2019, where he led the Corrections & Narcotics Programme Management Centre in helping the Singapore Prison Service revamp its Information and Communication Technologies work processes and undergo a digital transformation.

He later took on the role of director Plans and Strategy in Jan 2022 before he was appointed director of PPMC in Jan 2024.

He notes that his time at HTX has been an invigorating one thus far, and one of the things he loves is the agency’s exuberant culture and focus on innovation. When HTX introduced the Undaunted Award to recognise teams that had "failed forward" and learned valuable lessons from unsuccessful projects, Allan thought the move to be a great idea.

"I was so heartened when I learned we'd actually recognise people for failing in the right way," he said.

“Because to me, failure is a key element in the journey to success.”

Always learning

Outside the office, Allan's hobbies echo this philosophy to life.

While many of his friends know of him to be an accomplished home chef who never fails to whet appetites with his Hainanese chicken rice, black pepper crabs and Cantonese soups, not everyone knows of the many kitchen mishaps he’s had to deal with.

The most recent mishap, he recalled, had to do with osmanthus jelly.

Because he chose the wrong brand of konnyaku jelly powder and added insufficient water, the resulting jelly was so tough that it could literally bounce off the floor.

“Like many things in life, cooking requires patience and lots of trial and error to get the recipe right. It’s also important to know the taste and preference of the people that you are cooking for. There is no one-size-fits-all magic recipe,” he mused.

The same goes for gardening. Before developing an impressive green thumb that has cultivated an impressive collection of flowering plants, including the Habenaria Carnea, the Epiphyllum Oxypetalum and a collection of orchids, Allan confessed that he inadvertently doomed several plants along the way.

His passion for trying new things also extends to his love for music. For example, he enjoys crooning Cantopop hits like Jacky Cheung ballads at karaoke sessions with family and friends. He has also collaborated with HTX’s very own band, the Coffee Break Band, to experiment with different ideas such as combining Western musical instruments and Chinese musical instruments for a Chinese New Year eXpresso! segment.

“It’s fun to experiment and bring different experiences to the audience for each performance. If you don’t try, you won’t know if it would work!”