#230 - Inside a Failure Audit

Failure is the best place to mine for success.

A director I know coined this phrase to encapsulate the idea:

Problem - Probe - Improve

Whenever you encounter a problem, probe it to discover improvements that can make the next go-round a success.

But how do you actually do that?

In this issue of Cut/daily we'll learn (once again) from industry veteran Katie Hinsen, as she shares a detailed guide to on How to Learn From Your Mistakes Like a Pro, a free insight from MixingLight.com.

She provides 8 key questions to ask of any project and a proven approach for handling failure, in the moment.

Failure Audits

Another approach to mining failure for success is to conduct what I call a 'Failure Audit' which is essentially a follow up conversation with the key players or client on any job that didn't go exactly to plan.

I've done this a couple of times on behalf of someone else, as an independent third-party, who can speak confidently and confidentially to both sides and it really helps to pull out areas for improvement, whilst also re-affirming potentially tarnished working relationships.

It's surprising how beneficial a little candid conversation can be!