The Importance of Learning-by-Doing

The history of technology often focuses on grand firsts – first inventor, first demonstration, first commercial success.??This can give an overly linear view of how complex technologies develop.??In reality, complex technologies develop via a messy evolution of thought and design regarding their multiple subsystems.?The driver for this evolution is invariably a huge amount of iterative learning-by-doing.

As an example let’s consider the Apollo space program to get a person to the moon.??Below is a slightly edited figure (LINK1, LINK2) from NASA on the history of United States space flight up until 1965 (plus planned launches and Saturn engine tests through 1970).?Each dot is represents a launch intended to get into space.??Each red X was a failure, often a quite spectacular failure.??What is immediately apparent is the vast amount of learning-by-doing, with full size rockets no less, required to finally build a system to reasonably safely get a person to the moon and back.?

When developing bold technologies, think about this when there is pressure to shorten schedules and tighten budgets.?You can only do a complex task right the first time if you have done it many times before.