The F Word... Fail

There’s an eighth
dirty word...

FAIL

@dafark8
#FailBtrUX

The F-Word... Fail
Failure as a part of the design process

David Farkas

The F-Word, FAIL IASummit April 2013 David Farkas @dafark8 #FailBtrUX

I Failed
10:45AM - Last Day

Philadelphia
Design and Strategy
TammanTech
@dafark8
#FailBtrUX


Failure
intransitive verb
a: to fall short <failed in his duty>
b: to be or become absent or inadequate <the water supply failed>
c: to be unsuccessful; speciﬁcally :to be unsuccessful in achieving a
passing grade

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fail?show=0&t=1359568111
http://hans.gerwitz.com/2011/03/07/fail-stamp.html


Mistake
transitive verb
a : to blunder in the choice of <mistook her way in the dark>
b : to misunderstand the meaning or intention of

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mistake?show=0&t=1360945111
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v2vlvFk9lxI/Tz1N-wTEHoI/AAAAAAAAeYI/ZrR2uzz0iSc/s1600/dewey-defeats-truman.jpg
115


Redefined, Failure
a: a time of personal discomfort, or a time you feel you could have
done better
b: a bad day
c: an instance or event where things when differently then planned


Catastrophic Failures

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster


Embarrassing Failures

http://thesassyswan.ﬁles.wordpress.com/2012/09/billy-madison.jpg


Social Failures


Shocking Failures

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IVV_liZdDJc/UAda-j6-xCI/AAAAAAAABbY/3Q1kmp_4Mhg/s1600/22.35.png


Intentional Failures

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/underwire/2013/02/hackers-650x325.jpg


Day to Day Failures

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/jeffcutler/8297212605/sizes/o/in/photostream/


Many Ways To Fail

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cellardoorfilms/7620375382/sizes/m/in/photostream/ http://cbssanfran.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/fanscrushed.jpg?w=300


Failure Experience

“Experience is what you
get when you didn’t get
what you want”
- Randy Pausch


Experience (fail) has a Stigma

http://www.theleadtype.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Stooges-Nun.jpg


Sanitized Experiences

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/22750018@N05/4292418713/sizes/m/in/photostream/


Raw Experiences


I Have Failed Experienced
✤ Presentations gone awry

✤ Timelines missed

✤ Failed meetings

✤ Arguments with clients

✤ Arguments with teammates

✤ Not meeting my own expectations

✤ Expecting the worst, not pushing myself


Leads to Success

“I have not failed 1,000
times. I have successfully
discovered 1,000 ways
NOT to make a
light bulb”
- Thomas Edison


Objectified

http://idsgn.org/images/objectiﬁed_peeler.jpg


Sharing is even better

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/courosa/3708151311/sizes/z/in/photostream/


Share!


Learn from Others
Failure Experience Type:
Communication

Failure Experience: Large
client with rotating project
team

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/dan4th/2402329882/sizes/l/in/photostream/


Learn from Others
Lessons: Document early and often

Teach: Exercises and samples of clear/unclear documentation

http://xkcd.com/1015/


Experience Humility
Personal

Failure Experience: Dropped
the ball on a presentation with
a major client


Experience Humility
Lessons: Assume nothing.

Teach: Take time to prepare and review

http://survivingtheworld.net/Lesson362.html


Build Trust
Failure Experience Type: Social

Failure Experience: Kickstarter
got grief for not showing failed
projects

I found one!


Build Trust
Lessons: Be honest about your motivations and intent.

Teach: Play ‘devil’s advocate’

http://garﬁeldminusgarﬁeld.net/post/37933367386/g-g-the-book-g-g-on-facebook-g-g-on-twitter


Expose Process
Business

Failure Experience: Project
ended prematurely due to
misalignment of expectations
of process.

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/suburbanadventure/8240533220/sizes/h/in/
photostream/


Expose Process
Lessons: Don’t be sneaky and address concerns up front

Teach: Environment of trust

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-12-22/


Consistency
Process

Failure Experience: No formal
process for the team or client to
follow leading to srcabmle

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HCatlRPRyCk/TbaBN8yAGQI/AAAAAAAAALg/
gHJx8ShWBOc/s1600/chutesladders.gif


Consistency
Lessons: Don’t skimp on process

Teach: Shadowing and learning from each other’s roles

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=459


Exercise 1
Gather ye’ sketchbooks

✤ Experience Type: Communication, Expectations, Business,
Professional, Personal, Social, etc

✤ Experience: 3-5 sentences describing experience

✤ Lessons: 3-5 sentences describing lesson learned

✤ Teach: 2-3 sentences how you can teach this lesson to others
(action, sample, etc)


All characters appearing in this work are
fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons,
living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Value of Experience

Value of failing experiences

Value of sharing failures experiences

Learn to Fail Better
“...I am convinced that unless I talk openly about what I’ve
learned so far - unless I hold myself accountable in public -
then the lessons will not last. I will lose the only consolation
of my failure, which is the promise that I will not fail like
this again. That I might, one day, ﬁnd a way to fail better. ”
- Jonah Lehrer

http://www.jonahlehrer.com/2013/02/my-apology/


Take It Home!
• Share experiences with clients

• Make it part of your presentations

• Document document document!

• Text
Open workshops and brainstorming

• Share discarded ideas

• Write about it

• Talk about it


FailBetterUX.Tumblr.Com


So Remember
•Failure is a part of life
•Don’t call it failure
•We all do it
•Discuss Experiences
•Internally and with clients
•Fail often and fast

http://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Turtleback-Library-Binding-Edition/dp/0613685725


Resources
Mindﬁre: Big Ideas for Curious Minds, Scott Berkun

Success Through Failure: The Paradox of Design, Henry Petroski

Better By Mistake: The Unexpected Beneﬁts of Being Wrong, Alina Tugend

We Learn Nothing, Time Kreider

Juice: The Creative Fuel That Drives World-Class Inventors, Evan I. Schwartz

Smart Ways to Talk About Failure,
http://philanthropy.com/blogs/the-giveaway/smart-ways-to-talk-about-failure/968

Various TEDtalks http://www.ted.com/talks/tags/failure

Kickstarter Responds to “Hidden Failed Project” Claims
http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/31/kickstarter-responds-to-hidden-failed-project-claims/

Jonah Lehrer, open letter apology http://www.jonahlehrer.com/2013/02/my-apology/

http://hadonejob.com

Exploring the Al-Chet Prayer http://www.aish.com/h/hh/yom-kippur/guide/Exploring_the_Al-Chet_Prayer.html

http://hadonejob.com/


In Closing

“An expert is a man who
has made all the
mistakes which can be
made, in a narrow ﬁeld”
- Niels Bohr


Thank You

@dafark8
#FailBtrUX
dfarkas@tammantech.com
dafark8@gmail.com


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