In the normal course of our day work, we often encounter what are known as design opportunities.

Those with a negative viewpoint will often refer to these as screw ups. But us optimists never look a gift horse in the mouth.

Some of my best ideas have come from needing a way to integrate a misstep into my design. It might come from a groove in the wrong place or a flaw in the material.

When these opportunities arise early in the project, we tend to simply start over. There is no big investment at that point and we are losing little beyond a bit of material that can probably be used later anyway.

But when they come up late in the game, it’s time to get the creative juices flowing.