Six types of failures.

In a Fast Company Co.Design post, Parsons "The New" School for Design Professor Jamer Hunt notes that not all failures are the same, and that some are indeed bad for you, while others are part of a positive process in creativity.  Accordingly, there are six types of failures:

• Abject Failure
• a catastrophic failure in which permanent damage is caused and cannot be recovered from.
• Structural Failure
• integral part of a design fails, but does not cause permanent damage to one's reputation.
• Glorious Failure
• going down, in the blaze of glory where no recovery is possible, but it was fun watching.
• Common Failure
• recurring, minor failures that do not affect design.
• Version Failure
• each iteration of a design has small failures directly related to the design, but are correctable.
• Predicted Failure
• unknown yet expected mistakes, otherwise known as the reason why you always prototype.

I like these distinctions; I think they serve well as guidance as to what types of failures to expect, and provides a predictive sensibility of how to react.  You want to avoid the abject failure at all costs, while the glorious failure at least is entertaining and can provide a laugh.  Structural failure points to an internal process problem that needs to be corrected, whereas common failures are sometimes annoying to some, but have little bearing on the outcome.