Celebrating Failure

1. This past semester I failed at creating a hardware schedule for my project at work. The construction company I am interning for assigned me to a 60-unit room renovation inside a five-star resort. One of my many responsibilities was to create a hardware schedule and it proved to be a pain to do. From self-closers, hinges, knobs, push pull plates, panic hardware, and maybe over two dozen other items, some that I didn’t even know existed, I had to count each one for each fixture, door, or cabinetry item. I thought I did an okay job until the order came in last week and it was time to install. Turns out, I read one sheet on the drawings wrong and didn’t realize that in the title block it said that it was Floor 4 and Floor 5 combined. When counting the hardware for that sheet I should have multiplied it by two since it included both floors, I just counted it as one floor. Nevertheless, we were down about 86 pieces of hardware and I am still dealing with this nightmare. I placed the order six weeks before I needed it to be delivered last week, so to order more it is another six weeks lead time before I can receive them.
2. What I learned from this fiasco is to take my time with tasks and to always double check my work. Also, creating a hardware schedule is something that I have never done before and wasn’t too comfortable doing. While it is great to try things on your own and teach yourself, I also think it’s important sometimes to ask for help. In this case, I should have asked the project manager for help or to at least double check my work before ordering the items.
3. Failure is both hard and embarrassing. While I didn’t get in trouble at work, nor caused anyone to be mad, it was still very embarrassing and threw a pretty decent obstacle in my project schedule. I don’t like failing and am a very prideful person, admitting I did something wrong is actually something that I struggle with. This class has changed my perspective on failure by showing me that it is okay to re-do things in an attempt to improve. We had several chances to fix our elevator pitches, idea napkins, and more assignments. I have learned that your first attempt is rarely perfect, it takes feedback from others and practice to get something right or improve something. I am definitely more likely to take a risk in the future, this class has taught me how to write my thoughts in a clearer way and how to network and approach people more comfortably.