Mistakes happen, in every team and every project. What matters is what comes next: hide them or talk about them. We talk. On MacNorris TV we build real projects on camera, and whatever goes wrong stays in.
Error culture describes how a team or company deals with mistakes: whether they're raised openly, analysed and used to learn, or covered up and punished.
A positive error culture separates the mistake from the person. The question is what happened and what the team learns from it, not who's to blame.
Our Playbook has two rules for this: build in public and mistakes happen. We show how we work, mistakes included. And when something goes wrong, we own it, look at what happened and do better. That applies internally just as much as in projects.
Even with the small things. In the first episode on MacNorris TV we forgot to give the microphone access. So everything again. It stayed in the video.
A real project, built on camera. With everything that went wrong along the way.
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You just have to talk about mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. What matters is that you learn from them.
| Negative error culture | Positive error culture |
|---|---|
| “Who's to blame?” | “What happened, what do we learn?” |
| Mistakes get hidden until they're big | Mistakes get raised early, while they're small |
| Nobody tries anything new | Trying things out is welcome |
| A mistake costs reputation | A mistake costs a learning moment |
| The same problem keeps coming back | The mistake becomes a rule |
Fail fast doesn't mean failing as often as possible. It means finding mistakes early enough that they cost little. A prototype after 48 hours shows whether an idea holds up before months and budget go into it. That's exactly why we build MVPs and prototypes instead of long concepts.
A mistake in a prototype costs an afternoon. The same mistake after rollout costs months. That's why error culture and speed are directly linked: whoever is afraid of mistakes plans one more round instead of trying something.
Good error culture: Someone says in a meeting: “That was my mistake.”
Poor error culture: Mistakes only surface in office gossip
Good error culture: Managers talk about their own mistakes too
Poor error culture: It's always the others who make mistakes
Good error culture: After a mistake there's a solution
Poor error culture: After a mistake there's someone to blame
Good error culture: New ideas get tried out
Poor error culture: Things are done the way they've always been done
Good error culture: Mistakes get fixed quickly
Poor error culture: Mistakes get glossed over
A positive error culture means mistakes can be raised openly without anyone being exposed. The team asks what happened and what it learns, instead of looking for someone to blame. That makes mistakes visible early, while they're still small, and lowers the barrier to trying something new.
By leadership living what it expects. When managers talk about their own mistakes, others dare to as well. Add clear responsibilities so mistakes don't land nowhere, see ownership, and a fixed moment to discuss mistakes without assigning blame. Punishing honestly reported mistakes ends any error culture immediately.
Fail fast means finding mistakes as early as possible, while they cost little. Instead of planning for months, something small gets built and tested quickly. If a mistake shows up, it gets fixed or the idea dropped before much money goes into it. For us that means a prototype in 48 hours, see MVPs and prototypes.
Read how we work, or tell us where things get stuck for you.
