Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz is an eye opening read. It
shows us just how wrong we can be but also what we can learn from our mistakes.
Schulz manages to hit a wide array of topics from misremembered memories to
heartbreak and how wrongness is prevalent in them all. Right from the start of
the book, Schulz states that “wrongness is a vital part of how we learn and
change. Thanks to error, we can revise our understanding of ourselves and amend
our ideas about the world (Schulz, 5).” This mindset is one that is applicable
to many different areas of life, including product creation. In fact, it
exemplifies a key lesson we learn early on: to fail fast, which hopefully allows
you to succeed faster.
Much like that first quote there are many instances throughout
the book that relate back to many different fields of study. In one her chapters,
The Paradox Of Error, Schulz is relating trying to prevent making mistakes to
the idea of democracy but I also found that it had a lot to do with product creation.
“Here, then, are some ways we can try to prevent mistakes. We can foster the
ability to listen to each other and the freedom to speak our minds. We can
create open and transparent environments instead of cultures of secrecy and concealment
(Schulz, 311).” When I read this, I was
reminded of the importance of brainstorming in groups. It’s one of the best
ways to get the creative juices flowing and while many absurd ideas will come
out of the session it also can lead to many brilliant ones. By playing off of
each other in the group, by being able to listen and speak, good ideas come
forth. Similarly, it is important to accept that “undoubtedly something else will
go wrong sometimes in the future (Schulz, 316).” While one main focus of
product creation is to make products better for people to use we can’t expect
that our first effort will be our best. Relating to the advice to not to fall
in love with your first idea, or your tenth for that matter, there’s always something
that could go wrong. It may work “well for awhile, and then an error occurs anywhere
and reveals a flaw in your design (Schulz, 316).” This is an important lesson
in product creation and one that much of the work is based off of. By
continually trying to fix errors we come up with better products. Just take a
look at technology, for instance. Companies are constantly trying to make
better phones, laptops, appliances leaving the consumer with better choices.
From this seemingly never ending string of being wrong
and knowing that what may seem right at the moment might eventually be proven
wrong in the future comes a pessimism or uncertainty, as Schulz puts it. She
believes, however, that it isn’t a completely terrible thing. Doubting ourselves
“is the act of challenging our beliefs…This is an active, investigative doubt
(Schulz, 319).” This allows us to see the world with curiosity, possibility and
wonder. If we don’t acknowledge our fallibility of possibly being wrong in the
now and most definitely being wrong in the future, we lose out on this sort of
doubt. I believe that it is this doubt that drives people to want to create new
and better products.
