“There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.”- Brene Brown
Product development is always a balance between what you already know and what you must discover. Re-use of proven technologies brings efficiency and reliability. New approaches create differentiation and progress.
The challenge is that the familiar may not always be enough.
Every meaningful product involves unknowns—new architectures, new constraints, or new use cases. Venturing into these areas introduces uncertainty. But this uncertainty should not be mistaken for failure. It is the natural cost of innovation.
The real question is not whether you will face failure, but how you respond to it.
Do Not Let Fear of Failure Hold You Back
Fear of failure is rarely a technical problem. It is often a perception problem. Some individuals or societies suffer more from fear of failure than others. The reasons may differ. Fear of failure is often more a product of external pressures than internal capability. Your primary role as an engineer is to separate professional risk from personal ego. It is seen that the individuals, and societies that have conquered fear of failure, are more innovative.
Questions like “What will people say if this doesn’t work?” have little to do with engineering and everything to do with external expectations. These fears can quietly shape decisions, pushing teams toward safe, incremental improvements rather than meaningful innovation.
High-performing teams operate differently. They separate professional risk from personal ego.
- A failed experiment is data, not judgement
- An unexpected result is learning, not embarrassment
Everyone would have been afraid of failing at times. Most people can overcome it, themselves, or with some support of the team. It is important to not let it become dysfunctional. Leadership plays a critical role here. A strong team culture is one where a failed experiment is reported as quickly—and as openly—as a successful one.
Speed of reporting failure is a hallmark of a mature engineering organization.
Be Brave, but be Prepared
Designers are often advised to think of worst-case situations and ensure that their designs still meet the specifications. This should not be considered too literally. It is meant to cover situations where most subsystems perform at the limits of tolerance. Trying new approaches would have some unknowns, more than using tried and tested approaches. Conquering fear does not mean acting blindly. Experimentation without preparation is not innovation—it is waste.
True engineering courage combines bold thinking with disciplined risk management. When exploring new approaches, it is essential to:
- Anticipate what could go wrong
- Evaluate the likelihood and impact of those risks
- Mitigate the risks with specific planned actions to recover from the risks
When we have a clear mitigation plan, we stop fearing the outcome and start focusing on the engineering challenge.
Also, never underestimate the value of experience. Experienced engineers often recognize patterns long before formal analysis does. Their intuition—built over years of projects—is portable knowledge in action. It helps identify blind spots that structured processes may miss.
In Real Life
In one project, a team was developing the next generation of a conference system used in large meeting halls. A fundamental limitation of the system was that only three people could speak simultaneously. This constraint had been accepted for years, and the team focused only on incremental improvements.
During a discussion, I questioned that assumption. The limitation, I was told, was due to the output-stage circuit topology, a “fundamental constraint.” But instead of accepting it, I asked: Is it really fundamental?
I couldn’t stop thinking about it. A few days later, I proposed an alternative: a current source topology
The initial reaction was predictable: “That’s never been done.”
The better question was: “Why not?”
To the team’s credit, they experimented—carefully. We built a limited prototype, validated the concept, and then developed a formal concept model.
The result was transformative:
- The three speakers’ limitation was removed
- The product’s value proposition changed dramatically
- Market response was immediate and strong
This idea was later extended to other domains, including industrial communication systems.
The lesson is clear:
Innovation starts by challenging accepted limitations—but succeeds only when experimentation is disciplined and progressive.
Summary and Key Takeaways
Fear does not disappear through motivation—it disappears through clarity and preparation. When teams:
- Identify risks early
- Design mitigation strategies
- Test assumptions through prototypes
Key Takeaways
- Balance re-use and innovation: Familiar solutions are efficient, but may not solve new problems
- Treat failure as data: A failed attempt is information, not judgement
- Structure your risks: Risk management enables—not limits—experimentation
- Leverage experience: Intuition from experienced engineers often reveals hidden risks early
- Avoid blind exploration: Always have a mitigation path when trying something new does not work, the project can pivot without catastrophic loss of time or quality.
- Remove fear from innovation: Teams that detach failure from shame innovate faster and better
Closing Thought
Commandment 6 is not about being fearless—it is about replacing fear with structure. When risks are understood and managed, teams gain the confidence to explore, experiment, and create.
And once fear is replaced with disciplined experimentation, the next logical step is to validate ideas quickly and continuously.
That is what we will explore next. “Commandment 7: Prototype everything”
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”
— Henry Ford