When is failure just an answer to a different question?

And how can we recognize it when it happens instead of just throwing it away?

That's the subject of a recent article in Wired Magazine—"Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up"—which explores how usual behaviors and even our own brains tend to stand in the way of recognizing good things in unexpected results.  Writer Jonah Lehrer introduces us to Kevin Dunbar, a researcher who studies, of all things, scientists—"how they fail and how they succeed."  Though Dunbar's research focuses on scientists, the lessons are remarkably appropriate for inventors and social entrepreneurs.

Kevin Dunbar: "The problem with science, then, isn’t that most experiments fail — it’s that most failures are ignored."  Image source: Wired

Here are a few lessons from the article—How to Learn From Failure:

1. Check your assumptions.  Ask yourself why this result feels like a failure. What theory does it contradict? Maybe the hypothesis failed, not the experiment.
2. Seek out the ignorant.  Talk to people who are unfamiliar with your experiment. Explaining your work in simple terms may help you see it in a new light.
3. Encourage diversity.  If everyone working on a problem speaks the same language, then everyone has the same set of assumptions.
4. Beware of failure-blindness.  It’s normal to filter out information that contradicts our preconceptions. The only way to avoid that bias is to be aware of it."

View the full article here >>

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Fun facts—these are a few examples of brilliant inventions their inventors weren't necessarily looking for:

The Phonograph — originally meant for playing back recorded telephone messages

Gunpowder — discovered by Taoist alchemists trying to create an "immortality pill"

Cellophane — created in a failed attempt to produce a waterproof coating for fabrics

Post-It Notes — the adhesive the inventor was trying to create was supposed to be super-strong but it was super-weak instead, and super-useful in a different way

Viagra — originally meant for stopping chest pain

more explanation and examples at Wired and Xperimania

And blogger Phil McKinney reminds us that the telephone, radio, tv, cable and vcr are all brilliant inventions, but not for the original uses their inventors intended.  He gives this advice:

"A mistake many innovators make is to fall in love with the original application of their idea and be closed to other possible uses.  One way to avoid this is to prototype your idea in such a way that your customer can experiment and find their own application for it.  Put these prototypes in front of your customers and observe (empathic design) how they use it.  Don’t lead.  Don’t correct them in how to use it 'correctly.'  Let them self discover how your idea solves a problem they are having."

As you continue to search for brilliant solutions to tough problems, take these lessons to heart and keep your mind open.  Unexpected results may be answers to questions you just hadn't thought to ask.