In this study, I explore a time when I collaborated on an education-focused research project, which failed. I articulate my experience of failure as a positive means for improving collaborative research practice. I achieve this by repositioning the critiquing of failure through an auto-ethnographical account, integrating an adapted version of the Theory of Change framework by Hart, Diercks-O'Brien, & Powell, (2009). [Hart, et al., (2009). Exploring stakeholder engagement in impact evaluations planning in educational development work. "Evaluation," 15(3), 285-306. https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2102/10.1177/1356389009105882]) to better acknowledge, understand and prepare for failure. Even with careful planning to execute a purposefully designed collaborative research project, success cannot be guaranteed. When failure happens, something has gone terribly wrong. However, something has also transpired that was meaningful.