Fast Failure

When I worked as a designer, trying things out was a natural part of the process. Making models and sketches were ways of testing ideas by making them visible, tangible. Once real, we could put them in front of people for feedback. What worked? What didn’t? Revisions were based on that feedback. “Back to the drawing board” was the norm. Then another cycle of feedback, and another, honing in on our final solution.

As you can see, failure was the norm. For each thing that worked in a given round of design, were all those that didn’t. Failure wasn’t a big deal. It was a natural part of figuring things out. Honing in. Refining. Improving. In the business world “fail fast” has become a mantra for companies trying to foster a culture of innovation. It helps ease the inhibiting fear that can come with the prospect of failure.

Often my clients express a sense of failure in the many thoughts, feelings, and attitudes they bring. The therapist in me empathizes. The designer in me sees this as a normal part of the process. But the biggest difference I notice between my client’s point-of-view and mine is that the client often clings to the failure as absolute. And when they do so, it locks the failure in place as a defining moment and feature, fixed and forever. It becomes the core belief around which a “failed self” fixates, frozen.

In working with clients, we explore ways to dismantle the infrastructure that sustains the failed self, identifying strengths, trying out new things, experimenting. In so doing, we’re prototyping a new self willing to try and fail with greater and greater ease, developing flexibility and confidence in the process.

Failure is a key to innovation. And it's a therapeutic opportunity. Fail fast and often with your clients toward creative reinvention.