Sometimes when we have a project, enterprise or programme, we work hard and try to get our act together, but things don't work out. We then wonder whether we weren't meant to get it right, or if someone else was probably deliberately queering the pitch. When it all works out we say it's so nice when a plan comes together.

The thing is we are always looking for positive results and fail to remember that some things need to be worked over and over to be perfected. The motor for…