• Cost: Free

  • Length of Course: 1-2 Hours

  • On-Demand Course

Course Overview

In every project, the potential for both success and failure exists. Understanding how to navigate the delicate balance between these outcomes is crucial for any professional. This course on learning from your failures offers an in-depth exploration of how to critically analyse and learn from failure, as well as how to anticipate challenges to make better-informed decisions in future endeavours.

Throughout the course, you will delve into probabilistic thinking, reductionism, and systems-based approaches to problem-solving. You will explore how each element within a project impacts the overall outcome and how failures can provide valuable learning opportunities, rather than being seen as obstacles to success.

By enrolling in this course, you will gain practical insights into how to examine your projects from a systems perspective, giving you the tools to identify and mitigate potential risks and to navigate complex situations with confidence.

Priority Places

This course is fully funded for those who live/work in Arts Council England's Priority Places covered by Artswork's NPO status.

You qualify for a fully funded place on this course if you live/work in the following areas: Adur, Arun, Crawley, Dover, Eastbourne, Gosport, Havant, Isle of Wight, Medway, New Forest, Portsmouth, Rushmoor, Slough, Southampton, Spelthorne and Swale.

What You Will Learn

  • The Importance of Acknowledging Failure: Understand why reflecting on failure is just as critical as celebrating success. By examining both, you can anticipate future risks and plan more effectively.

  • Probabilistic Thinking: Learn to estimate the likelihood of different outcomes and make more informed decisions based on incomplete information. This skill will enable you to balance success and failure in your planning and execution.

  • Systems Thinking: Explore how to look at your projects holistically, considering the various subsystems and external factors that can influence outcomes. You will learn to identify the relationships and interdependencies within your projects and how to adjust accordingly.

  • Practical Application of Systems Thinking: Through real-world examples and activities, you’ll learn how to map out the elements of your project, pinpoint potential risks, and see how one small change can impact the whole system.

  • The Five Facets of Failure: Discover a structured way to evaluate and reduce the various components of a project, learning to understand which areas might have contributed to a lack of success, and which areas still held value.

  • Reductionism in Evaluation: Apply reductionist methods to break down a project into smaller parts, making it easier to identify which elements failed, why they failed, and how you can prevent similar issues in the future.

Why Enrol?

This course offers a practical, reflective, and systems-based approach to navigating the complexities of creative projects. You will learn how to see failure not as a final outcome but as part of an iterative process that enhances future projects.

By the end of the course, you will:


  • Be equipped with tools to assess failure and success objectively.


  • Gain the ability to map out complex project systems and foresee potential obstacles.


  • Learn to make strategic, data-informed decisions using probabilistic and systems-based thinking.


  • Understand how to communicate setbacks to stakeholders and turn them into learning opportunities.


  • Develop confidence in managing projects with multiple moving parts and shifting timelines.

Who Is This Course For?

This course is ideal for creative professionals, project managers, and leaders working in arts, culture, and heritage sectors. Whether you are planning new projects or evaluating the success of past initiatives, this course will give you the skills to handle challenges and make thoughtful, informed decisions that improve your outcomes.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Welcome to the course!

    • How to use the course player

    • Reflective learning

    • Developing your learning

  • 2

    Let's get started!

    • About this course and FailSpace

    • Evaluation Blocker Bingo

    • Critical Reflection

    • Why do we only hear about the shiny projects?

    • Why is it important to acknowledge failure?

    • A Systems Thinking Based Approach

    • Reductionism and The Five Facets of Failure

    • Activity: Systems Thinking Approach meets Reductionism

    • How badly do we have to fail to be an outright failure?

    • Bringing it all together

  • 3

    Next Steps...

    • Course Evaluation

Start your journey to a more reflective and resilient project management approach today