All conventional wisdom has an element of truth to it, but good design requires more than an element of truth - it… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Everything we do is designed, whether we're producing a magazine, a website, or a bridge. Design is really the creative invention that… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
I employ case studies of failure into my courses, emphasizing that they teach us much more than studies of success. It is… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
What is commonly overlooked in using the computer is the fact that the central goal of design is still to obviate failure,… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
We call the fates of the Titanic and the Concordia - as well as those of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Because every design must satisfy competing objectives, there necessarily has to be compromise among, if not the complete exclusion of, some of… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
It seems to be a law of design that for every advantage introduced through redesign, there is an accompanying unintended disadvantage. — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Successful design is not the achievement of perfection but the minimization and accommodation of imperfection. — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
You can almost say that a design error is a human error because, after all, it's we humans who do the designing. — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
No design, no matter how common or seemingly insignificant, is without its adamant critics as well as its ardent admirers. — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
When something succeeds, we learn little more from it than that it did succeed. When something fails, however, we are driven to… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Any design, whether its for a ship or an airplane, must be done in anticipation of potential failures. — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
I have always been fascinated by the way things work and how they came to take the form that they did. Writing… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Any design, whether it's for a ship or an airplane, must be done in anticipation of potential failures. — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Case studies of failure should be made a part of the vocabulary of every engineer so that he or she can recall… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
All conventional wisdom has an element of truth to it, but good design requires more than an element of truth - it requires an… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
It is really want, rather than need, that drives the process of technological evolution. — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
A failed structure provides a counterexample to a hypothesis and shows us incontrovertibly what cannot be done, while a structure that stands without incident… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Everything we do is designed, whether we're producing a magazine, a website, or a bridge. Design is really the creative invention that designs everything. — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
I employ case studies of failure into my courses, emphasizing that they teach us much more than studies of success. It is not that… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Whether or not science can be applied to that mental construct [i.e. the designed entity] is a matter of availability. If there is body… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Failures are much more dramatic than successes, and people like drama. I think this is why automobile races draw such crowds. People expect spectacular… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
The most amazing achievement of the computer software industry is its continuing cancellation of the steady and staggering gains made by the computer hardware… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by things large and small. I wanted to know what made my watch… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Successful engineering is all about understanding how things break or fail. — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
The space shuttle was designed, at least in part, to broaden our knowledge of the universe. To scientists, the vehicle was a tool; to… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
Because they are so humbled by their creations, engineers are naturally conservative in their expectations of technology. They know that the perfect system is… — Henry Petroski Copy Share Image
