# STAR: a real failure

> Write a STAR about a project that failed. Be specific about what you got wrong. End with what concretely changed in your behavior since.

Canonical: https://learn.significanthobbies.com/curriculum/drills/star-failure

Write a STAR about a project that failed. Be specific about what you got wrong. End with what concretely changed in your behavior since.

## The mechanism

A real failure cost something you cannot get back. A useful failure story names exactly what you got wrong, what you tried next, and what concretely changed in your behavior since. "I learned a lot" is not a lesson.

## Expected evidence

starStory() returns { situation, task, action, result, metric: { name, unit, before, after }, behaviorChange (what concretely changed since) }. The checker enforces structure only: four distinct sections of 20+ words, action the longest, 150+ words total, before ≠ after, and the result section must name the metric and state its after value. Aim for 250-350 words — that is the interview bar, not the checker’s.

## Hints

- "It taught me a lot" is not a lesson.
- Pick a failure you actually moved past, not a fresh wound.

## Sources and practice

- [STAR interview method (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situation,_task,_action,_result)
- [Google SRE Book — Ch. 15: Postmortem Culture: Learning from Failure](https://sre.google/sre-book/postmortem-culture/)
- [Etsy — Debriefing Facilitation Guide (Allspaw et al.)](https://extfiles.etsy.com/DebriefingFacilitationGuide.pdf)
- [How Complex Systems Fail (Richard I. Cook)](https://how.complexsystems.fail/)
- [Study Failure & Learning](https://learn.significanthobbies.com/curriculum/concepts/failure-and-learning)
- [Try the interactive drill](https://learn.significanthobbies.com/drills/star-failure)
- [All practice briefs](https://learn.significanthobbies.com/curriculum/drills/)