"Fail often in order to succeed sooner!"--IDEO

This past week I spent a lot of time in classrooms supporting teachers trying out new technology.  While the end results were very successful, the frustrations leading to up to that success definitely tested our patience.  Tools didn't always work perfectly.  Internet bandwidth issues slowed down progress.  If the teacher or I had been dealing with these issues by ourselves, we may have chosen to throw in the towel and say "nevermind!"  But we were not alone; the coaching model has now given us the ability to collaborate, practice, fail, and learn for the next time.  It was inspiring to see teachers willing to troubleshoot the issues with me and work together to find solutions.  We also made time after the projects to reflect on the issues and decide what to do better next time.  My work this week reminds me of a quote from one of my favorite YouTube videos..."enlightened trial and error succeeds over the planning of a lone genius."  The short video below documents the work of IDEO, a design and innovation consulting firm as they redesign a shopping cart.  May we all continue to "fail often in order to succeed sooner!!"