This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 68.100.116.211 (talk) at 20:55, 6 December 2005 (→Formal technical definition). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 20:55, 6 December 2005 by 68.100.116.211 (talk) (→Formal technical definition)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) For other uses, see Failure (disambiguation).Failure in general refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective. It may be viewed as the opposite of success.
Common usage
A context in which failure is frequently used is in formal grading of scholastic achievement. 'Failing a test' or being assigned a 'failing mark' indicates that a student has submitted work or received a mark below a minimum threshold of performance or quality required to continue studies in a subject.
Formal technical definition
Failure is defined in ISO/CD 10303-226 as the lack of ability of a component, equipment, sub system, or system to perform its intended function as designed. Failure may be the result of one or many faults.
George W. Bush is a very common example of a failure.
Types of failure
Failure can be differentially perceived from the viewpoints of the evaluators. A person who is only interested in the final outcome of an activity would consider it to be an Outcome Failure if the core issue has not been resolved or a core need is not met. A failure can also be a process failure whereby although the activity is completed successfully, a person may still feel dissatisfied if the underlying process is perceived to be below expected standard or benchmark.
Bibliography
Born Losers: A History of Failure in America, by Scott A. Sandage (Harvard University Press, 2005).
See also
- Failure analysis
- Failure rate
- Failure mode
- Single point of failure
- Cascading failure
- Structural failure
- Tensile strength
- Power outage
- Debugging
- Murphy's law
- Miserable failure