Lesson Learned: It's no good if you don't capture it.

I recently did a workshop with a client to define some key elements of the brand. We talked and brainstormed for about three hours, doing some great work, delving deep and coming up with a lot of insights.

At the end of the workshop, I blithely snapped a few pics of the whiteboard over which I'd just been presiding. The client was waiting for me for another activity, so I was hustling to gather all my gear and get on with the agenda. Someone even asked me if I wanted them to record the stuff on the whiteboard. "That's OK," I said. "I took pictures." I felt capable and prepared.

When I got back to my office, here's what I found on my iPhone:



Not terribly useful, huh?

Lesson learned: Take your time with recording valuable data and insights. You risk wasting the entire experience—not to mention embarrassing yourself in front of your client—by failing to do so.

Fortunately, with some time spent in Photoshop, zooming in and changing the contrast on the hard-to-read Post-Its in my terrible photo, I was able to save the information. Needless to say, I chalked those hours up to tough lessons learned.