Learning From Failure

This book is written by a seasoned executive, entrepreneur consultant and educator. It should be read by anyone wanting to improve their decision-making skills.

Blending interviews with those most closely affected together with views from key commentators and experts the author creates a vivid picture of a system and societal failure ... a failure both that is at once both embarrassing and avoidable.

On March 17 1989, the Civic Tower of Pavia collapsed without apparently any warning sign, killing four people. After an experimental and analytical investigation lasted nine months, the collapse cause was found in a progressive damage dating back many years and due mainly to the heavy dead load put on top of the existing medieval tower when realising a massive bell-tower in granite. Other case histories have been collected as the collapse of the St. Marco bell-tower in Venice in 1902, of the Sancta Maria Magdalena bell-tower in 1992 in Dusseldorf, the damages of the bell-tower of the Monza Cathedral and of the Torrazzo in Cremona. Later on, in 1996 the collapse of the Noto Cathedral showed that similar progressive damages can take place in pillars of churches and cathedrals. The experimental research aimed to show the reliability of this interpretation went on and it is still continuing since 1989 and it is described in the book. After a careful interpretation of the experimental results, also based on experiences from rock mechanics and concrete, the modelling of the phenomenon for massive structures as creep behaviour of masonry was implemented. The book has the scope of helping architects and engineers to deal with the continuous damage of heavy structures and, to understand the signs of the phenomenon while proposing some modelling, but also to give guidelines for the on site investigation, monitoring and repairing of the damaged structures.

A Science “Reading List for Uncertain Times” Selection “A must-read for anyone with even a passing interest in the present and future of higher education.” —Tressie McMillan Cottom, author of Lower Ed “A must-read for the education-invested as well as the education-interested.” —Forbes Proponents of massive online learning have promised that technology will radically accelerate learning and democratize education. Much-publicized experiments, often underwritten by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, have been launched at elite universities and elementary schools in the poorest neighborhoods. But a decade after the “year of the MOOC,” the promise of disruption seems premature. In Failure to Disrupt, Justin Reich takes us on a tour of MOOCs, autograders, “intelligent tutors,” and other edtech platforms and delivers a sobering report card. Institutions and investors favor programs that scale up quickly at the expense of true innovation. Learning technologies—even those that are free—do little to combat the growing inequality in education. Technology is a phenomenal tool in the right hands, but no killer app will shortcut the hard road of institutional change. “I’m not sure if Reich is as famous outside of learning science and online education circles as he is inside. He should be...Reading and talking about Failure to Disrupt should be a prerequisite for any big institutional learning technology initiatives coming out of COVID-19.” —Inside Higher Ed “The desire to educate students well using online tools and platforms is more pressing than ever. But as Justin Reich illustrates...many recent technologies that were expected to radically change schooling have instead been used in ways that perpetuate existing systems and their attendant inequalities.” —Science

"IT veteran Dave Zweiback describes an incident that threatens the very existence of a large financial institution, and the counterintuitive steps its leadership took to stop the downward spiral. Their novel approach is grounded in proven concepts from complexity science, resilience engineering, human factors, cognitive science, and organizational psychology. It allows us to identify the underlying conditions for failure, and make our systems (and organizations) safer and more resilient."--Page 4 of cover.

First published as a special issue of Policy & Politics, this updated volume explores policy failures and the valuable opportunities for learning that they offer. Policy successes and failures offer important lessons for public officials, but often they do not learn from these experiences. The studies in this volume investigate this broken link. The book defines policy learning and failure and organises the main studies in these fields along the key dimensions of processes, products and analytical levels. Drawing together a range of experts in the field, the volume sketches a research agenda linking policy scholars with policy practice.

"Learning from Failure in the Design Process shows you that design work builds on lessons learned from failures to help you relax your fear of making mistakes, so that you're not paralysed when faced with a task outside of your comfort zone. Working hands-on with building materials, such as concrete, sheet metal and fabric, you will understand behaviours, processes, methods of assembly, and ways to evaluate your failures to achieve positive results. Through material and assembly strategies of stretching, casting, carving, and stacking this book uncovers the issues, problems, and failures confronted in student material experiments and examines built projects that addressed these issues with innovative and intelligent strategies. Highlighting numerous professional practice case studies with over 250 colour images, this book will be ideal for students interested in materials and methods, and students of architecture in design studios"--

Thinking of oneself as self-employed - and the boss of one's life and work - is the key to personal and professional development, says Cliff Hakim. He shows how to use his pioneering Worklife Creed as a basis for a new, satisfying philosophy of work and life. Providing a clear roadmap for finding purpose and passion in work, this revised edition includes a refined Worklife Creed, greater emphasis on taking full responsibility for one's worklife and understanding and expressing one's own uniqueness, and a Who's the Boss? section that acts as a practical and potent take-anywhere toolbox.