Tom Wujec 談由建塔學習團隊合作

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講者：Tom Wujec
2010年2月演講，2010年4月在TED上線
MyOOPS開放式課程
翻譯：洪曉慧
編輯：劉契良
簡繁轉換：陳盈
後製：洪曉慧
字幕影片後制：謝旻均
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Tom Wujec 談由建塔學習團隊合作
幾年前，在TED演講中，Peter Skillman介紹了一個挑戰設計，稱為棉花糖挑戰。這個想法很簡單，四人團隊必須建構最高的獨立式結構，使用的材料是20根義大利麵條、一卷膠帶、一卷細繩及一粒棉花糖；棉花糖必須放在頂端。這雖然看起來很簡單，但實際上相當困難。因為這使得人們必須迅速組成團隊合作。我認為這是一個有趣的想法，所以把它納入設計研討會中，結果大大成功。從那時起，我已經在世界各地舉行了約70個設計研討會，參與者有學生、設計師、建築師，甚至也有名列《財富》雜誌評選的全美50大企業總裁。他們對這活動蘊含的意義，即關於合作的特性，有很深的體認；我想與你們分享其中一些經驗。
在一般情況下，大多數人首先會找出自己在這個任務中的定位。他們討論並決定它呈現的模樣、爭奪操作權力、花一些時間規劃及組織。他們大略做了個架構，放上義大利麵，花費大部分的時間，將麵條組裝在規模不斷擴大的結構中。到最後，就在時間快到時，有人拿出了棉花糖，小心翼翼地把它放在頂端，往後一站。然後，噠啦！欣賞自己的成果。但事實上，大多數情況是由「噠啦」變成「喔哦」，因為棉花糖的重量會導致整個結構變形倒塌。
所以，有一些人得到「喔哦」的機率比其他人多得多。最糟糕之一是剛畢業的商學院菜鳥（笑聲）。他們說謊、作弊或分心，做出了相當糟的結構。當然也有些團隊得到的「噠啦」結構的機率比其他團隊多得多，其中名列前茅的有剛從幼稚園畢業的孩童（笑聲）。這很讓人驚訝；Peter告訴我們，他們不僅做出了最高的結構，也做出了最有趣的結構。
因此，你想問的問題是：怎麼會這樣呢？為什麼？這跟什麼有關？Peter喜歡這麼說：「沒有孩子會花時間試圖成為義大利麵公司的總裁」。對嗎？他們不會花時間爭奪權力。但還有另一個原因是，商學院的學生被訓練成找出單一的合適計畫，對嗎？然後執行它。結果是，他們把棉花糖放在頂端，當時間用完時，會發生什麼？這是一個危機。聽起來很熟悉嗎？對嗎？幼稚園生的不同做法是：他們以棉花糖開始建立原型，連續的原型，使棉花糖保持在頂端。因此，他們在過程中多次修正原型的結構缺陷。設計者承認這種合作類型是疊代過程的核心要素。隨著每一個模型版本的建立，孩子們得到及時的資訊；知道怎樣可行，怎樣不起作用。
因此，構建原型的能力是十分必要的。讓我們來看看不同團隊的執行表現。大多數人建構高度平均大約是20英寸；商學院學生高度約是一半；律師好一點點，但不多；幼稚園生優於大多數成年人。誰做得最好？建築師和工程師，謝天謝地（笑聲）。我見過最高的結構是39英寸，為何能做到這樣？因為他們瞭解三角形以及自行重新修正幾何圖形是建立穩定結構的關鍵，總裁稍優於平均水準。但這正是有趣之處：如果你把一個執行管理者放在團隊中，表現就會顯著提升（笑聲）。這是很不可思議的；因為你環顧現場即刻明白，「哦，那隊要贏了」，你之前就可以看出來。為什麼會這樣？因為他們有特殊的引導技能，他們管理過程、瞭解過程。任何一支能管理並密切關注工作表現的團隊，其表現將明顯改善。專業技能和引導技能，以及其組合能導致巨大的成功。如果有10支表現一般的團隊，也許有6支左右會有固定的結構。
我嘗試了一些有趣的東西，讓我們賭一把。我提供價值1萬美元的軟體給贏家。你認為這些學生設計者情形如何呢？結果是什麼呢？這是發生的情形：沒有一個團隊建立出結構，一個也沒有；甚至只要有人能建出一個一英寸的結構，就可以將獎品帶回家。這是不是很有趣？高賭注產生強大影響。我們再次讓相同學生做這項工作，你想結果為何？現在他們明白了原型的價值，因此，同一個團隊，從當中最糟的變成最好的。他們以最少的時間建構了最高的結構。因此，這給了我們深刻的體認：關於的獎勵和成功的關聯性。
你可能會問：為什麼會有人要花費時間寫棉花糖挑戰？原因是，我協助創建數位化工具和程式；幫助團隊建立汽車、電子遊戲機和視覺效果。棉花糖挑戰所做的是幫助他們找出隱藏的假設。坦白說，每個項目都有自己的棉花糖，不是嗎？挑戰提供了一個分享經驗，使用共同語言，共同立場，以建立正確的原型。因此，對這個簡單的練習來說，這是經驗的價值。
有興趣的人可以到marshmallowchallenge.com，這是一個部落格。你可以流覽一下如何建立棉花糖結構，網站上有詳細步驟說明，及來自世界各地的絕妙範例，像是人們如何修改和調整系統；目前的世界紀錄也在這裡。我認為最根本的教訓是，設計事實上是一種接觸的運動，它需要我們將全部感官帶入任務中。我們將最好的想法、感覺和實際行動應用於我們手邊的挑戰。有時候，這種經驗的一個小小原型，就是把我們從 「喔哦」變成「噠啦」時刻的功臣；這會產生很大的不同。
感謝聆聽。
（掌聲）。
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以下為系統擷取之英文原文
About this talk
Tom Wujec presents some surprisingly deep research into the "marshmallow problem" -- a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. Who can build the tallest tower with these ingredients? And why does a surprising group always beat the average?

About Tom Wujec

Tom Wujec studies how we share and absorb information. He's an innovative practitioner of business visualization -- using design and technology to help groups solve problems and understand… Full bio and more links

Transcript

Several years ago, here at TED, Peter Skillman introduced a design challenge called the marshmallow challenge. And the idea's pretty simple. Teams of four have to build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string and a marshmallow. The marshmallow has to be on top. And, though it seems really simple, it's actually pretty hard, because it forces people to collaborate very quickly. And so I thought that this was an interesting idea, and I incorporated it into a design workshop. And it was a huge success. And since then, I've conducted about 70 design workshops across the world with students and designers and architects, even the CTOs of the Fortune 50, and they're something about this exercise that reveals very deep lessons about the nature of collaboration, and I'd like to share some of them with you.

So, normally, most people begin by orienting themselves to the task. They talk about it, they figure out what it's going to look like, they jockey for power, then they spend some time planning, organizing. They sketch in and they lay out spaghetti They spend the majority of their time assembling the sticks into ever-growing structures and then, finally, just as they're running out of time, someone takes out the marshmallow, and then they gingerly put it on top, and then they stand back, and Ta-da! they admire their work. But what really happens, most of the time, is that the "ta-da" turns into an "uh-oh," because the weight of the marshmallow causes the entire structure to buckle and to collapse.

So there are a number of people who have a lot more "uh-oh" moments than others, and among the worst are recent graduates of business school. (Laughter) They lie, they cheat, they get distracted, and they produce really lame structures. And of course there are teams that have a lot more "ta-da" structures, and, among the best, are recent graduates of kindergarten. (Laughter) And it's pretty amazing. As Peter tells us, not only do they produce the tallest structures, but they're the most interesting structures of them all.

So the question you want to ask is: How come? Why? What is it about them? And Peter likes to say that, "None of the kids spend any time trying to be CEO of Spaghetti Inc." Right. They don't spend time jockeying for power. But there's another reason as well. And the reason is that business students are trained to find the single right plan, right. And then they execute on it. And then what happens is, when they put the marshmallow on the top, they run out of time, and what happens? It's a crisis. Sound familiar? Right. What kindergarteners do differently, is that they start with the marshmallow, and they build prototypes, successive prototypes, always keeping the marshmallow on top, so they have multiple times to fix ill built prototypes along the way. So designers recognize this type of collaboration as the essence of the iterative process. And with each version, kids get instant feedback about what works and what doesn't work.

So the capacity to play in prototype is really essential, but let's look at how different teams perform. So the average for most people is around 20 inches, business schools students, about half of that, lawyers, a little better, but not much better than that, kindergarteners, better than most adults. Who does the very best? Architects and engineers, thankfully. (Laughter) 39 inches is the tallest structure I've seen. And why is it? Because they understand triangles and self-re-enforcing geometrical patterns are the key to building stable structures. So CEOs, a little bit better than average. But here's where it gets interesting. If you put you put an executive admin. on the team, they get significantly better. (Laughter) It's incredible. You know, you look around, you go, "Oh, that team's going to win." You can just tell beforehand. And why is that? Because they have special skills of facilitation. They manage the process, they understand the process. And any team who manages and pays a close attention to work will significantly improve the team's performance. Specialized skills and facilitation skills, and the combination leads to strong success. If you have 10 teams that typically perform, you'll get maybe six or so that have standing structures.

And I tried something interesting. I thought, let's up the ante once. So I offered a 10,000 dollar prize of software to the winning team. So what do you think happened to these design students? What was the result? Here's what happened. Not one team had a standing structure. If anyone had built, say, a one inch structure, they could have taken home the prize. So, isn't it interesting that high stakes have a strong impact. We did the exercise again with the same students. What do you think happened then? So now they understand the value of prototyping. So the same team went from being the very worst to being among the very best. They produced the tallest structures in the least amount of time. So there's deep lessons for us about the nature of incentives and success.

So, you might ask: Why would anyone actually spend time writing a marshmallow challenge? And the reason is, I help create digital tools and processes to help teams build cars and video games and visual effects. And what the marshmallow challenge does is it helps them identify the hidden assumptions. Because, frankly, every project has its own marshmallow, doesn't it. The challenge provides a shared experience, a common language, common stance to build the right prototype. And so, this is the value of the experience, of this so simple exercise.

And those of you who are interested, may want to go to marshmallowchallenge.com. It's a blog that you can look at how to build the marshmallows. There's step-by-step instructions on this. There are crazy examples from around the world of how people tweak and adjust the system. There's world records on this as well.

And the fundamental lesson, I believe, is that design truly is a contact sport. It demands that we bring all of our senses to the task, and that we apply the very best of our thinking, our feeling and our doing to the challenge that we have at hand. And, sometimes, a little prototype of this experience is all that it takes to turn us from an "uh-oh" moment to a "ta-da" moment. And that can make a big difference.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)
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