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Strassel More Editorials Commentary Future View Letters to the Editor The Weekend Interview Potomac Watch Podcast Foreign Edition Podcast Free Expression Podcast Opinion Video Notable & Quotable * Books & Arts Reviews Film Television Theater Masterpiece Series Music Dance Opera Exhibition Cultural Commentary Sections Arts Books More WSJ Puzzles Life Video Arts Video * Real Estate Sections Commercial Real Estate More Real Estate Video * Life & Work Sections Cars Careers Food & Drink Home & Design Ideas Personal Finance Recipes Travel Wellness Columns Your Health Work & Life The Middle Seat Bonds At Work Turning Points On Wine On The Clock More WSJ Puzzles Space & Science * Style Sections Fashion Film Television Music Art & Auctions Columns My Monday Morning Off Brand On Trend * Sports Sections Beijing 2022 Olympics MLB NBA NFL Golf Tennis Soccer Columns Jason Gay Search BEST OFBooks & Arts in Review Books to Read This SpringBest New Movies & ShowsBest Books of March 'WeCrashed' Review7 Books on Ukraine & RussiaBest Books of 2021 This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/ build-book-review-failure-is-the-mother-of-invention-11655495722 Share * Facebook * Twitter * LinkedIn * Copy Link * Books & Arts * Books * Bookshelf 'Build' Review: Failure Is the Mother of Invention The engineer who played a key role in the iPod, iPhone and other game-changing devices lays out the messy blueprint for tech success. []An Apple iPod, with the foam model created to pitch the concept. Photo: Not Shakespeare LLC By Steven Sinofsky June 17, 2022 3:57 pm ET print Text Listen to article (3 minutes) Conventional wisdom states that innovation in technology-product creation comes in two stages. First, the aha! moment, when a visionary engineer stumbles upon a billion-dollar idea--the entrepreneurial version of Hollywood's meet-cute. Second, the moment when the tech-firm CEO draws up the plans, lines up the materials and creates the crowd-pleasing, epoch-making product. Tech innovation almost never happens that way. Rather, before a great gadget comes to market there are usually years, sometimes decades, of failed projects and false starts. Then there are still more years spent grinding away to get the gadget to customers. 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