I originally planned my Bali trip to be a time for reflection—to think about what went wrong over the past few months. A lot had happened: timeline delays, shifting project requirements, and having to drop future projects because of these delays. The causes trace back to many factors, and a lot of them relate to my first experiences—hiring and managing freelancers for the first time, finding the right workflow to integrate AI tools for design and development, reacting to clients’ new needs and scope changes when new problems surface, and realising what my maximum capacity is when running several design projects simultaneously.
I thought maybe some time away from work could help me figure out future pitfalls that might affect project management and design quality. You could say it was a postmortem with myself.
But as I reflected, I realised something important about how we approach mistakes, because that shapes what you do about it—and sometimes, there’s nothing to do about it at all.
For instance, there was a website project where I overemphasised UX and content until I completely overlooked the visual design. (It’s the kind of project a 2-4 person team would typically handle.) But as I shifted focus back to the design, I realised the visuals didn’t reflect the target demographic. So I asked the client to extend the project by a month, and used that time to make sure the visual design justified the UX—and vice versa. I want to be honest: not every project has the luxury of extending timelines, but this process taught me something:
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Admitting a flaw early isn’t just about taking accountability for your actions—it helps you align with your client about project priorities. Sometimes stakeholders are too shy to voice their opinions, so having the courage to say “I think we might be heading in the wrong direction” opens up honest conversations and better feedback later.
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There’s really nothing you can do to avoid mistakes or unforeseen errors. So it’s more important to know how to handle mistakes gracefully, or even turn them into opportunities. What I’ve found working with clients is that they care more about how you made them feel than what they get at the end of the engagement. If you can demonstrate clear thinking amidst chaos, that’s already a win-win for everyone.
It’s About Reassessment, Not Just Apology
All of this taught me one thing: sometimes admitting what went wrong is less about saying sorry and proposing alternative solutions. It’s more about thinking, “Hey, conditions have changed and the outcome we’re heading towards isn’t the best one. Let’s take a step back and reassess our goals versus where we’re actually going.”