“Failure” is a verdict.
A “prototype” is a question.
That single re-frame changes everything.
When we apply a design mindset to our own behaviour, setbacks stop being judgements and start becoming data. We observe rather than condemn.
We iterate rather than retreat. The same detachment and curiosity that a designer brings to an early sketch, knowing it is imperfect, knowing that’s the point, becomes available to us in our own lives.
Think of your journey from a challenge to a solution as a set of way-points, each of which must be crossed with a prototype. Each time users either dislike a prototype or suggest improvements or changes, you get one step closer to a far better product or solution.
This shift, from performing to experimenting, is quietly one of the most radical things design thinking offers.
It’s explored at length in my 2025 book, Think Like an Innovator.
