I employ case studies of failure into my courses, emphasizing that they teach us much more than studies of success. It is not that success stories cannot serve as models of good design or as exemplars of creative engineering. They can do that, but they cannot teach us how close to failure they are.

Henry Petroski

Henry Petroski

Cannot Case Close Courses Creative Design Employ Engineering Failure Good How Models More Much Serve Stories Studies Success Teach Than Us

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Case studies of failure should be made a part of the vocabulary of every engineer so that he or she can recall or recite them when something in a new design or design process is suggestive of what went wrong in the case study.

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