Lessons Learned
Turn a mistake or experiment into a useful explanation without rewriting the past as an obvious success.
The template
I was trying to:
[Original goal]
I believed:
[Assumption at the time]
What I did:
[Approach and relevant constraints]
What happened:
[Observable result]
The evidence that changed my mind:
[Behavior, error, number, or comparison]
What I believe now:
[Current, bounded conclusion]
What I changed:
[Decision or next experiment]
Where this lesson may not apply:
[Different context or limitation]Keep the original assumption understandable. A lesson becomes more credible when the reader can see why the failed approach once appeared reasonable.