The plan failed, so we must go back to the drawing board.
go back to the drawing board
idiom B2
To start again; to scrap a previous idea or plan and try again from the beginning.
Origin
first recorded 20th c. disputed originFrom Peter Arno's 1941 New Yorker cartoon showing a crashed plane and an engineer saying 'Well, back to the old drawing board.'
Since the client rejected our initial design proposal, the team decided to go back to the drawing board to create something better.
After the experimental results proved inconclusive, the researchers were forced to go back to the drawing board and rethink their entire methodology from the start.
- 01
all dressed up and nowhere to go
Elaborately attired or otherwise fully prepared for an anticipated situation or activity which, nevertheless, fails to occur.
- 02
all systems go
Everything is ready.
- 03
all the way to Egery and back
The long way; a roundabout route; a long distance to travel.
- 04
as you go
While one is doing (something); as one progresses.
- 05
back down
To take a less aggressive position in a conflict than one previously had, or has planned to have.
- 06
back forty
The most remote or inaccessible part of any place.
- 07
back gammon player
A person, chiefly a homosexual, who has anal sex.
- 08
back in the game
Having recovered from a disadvantageous position.