Tom Wujec: 搭一个塔，建一个团队

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http://dotsub.com/view/e875a1d6-234b-4fd0-82f5-b7f09edb0087
Tom Wujec: 搭一个塔，建一个团队
几年前，在TED大会上， Peter Skillman 介绍了一个设计挑战 叫做“棉花糖挑战” 是个非常简单的主意 要求一组四人的团队搭建一个独立的最高建筑 材料是20根意大利面条 一段胶带，一段绳子 一块棉花糖 棉花糖必须放在最上面 这虽然看似简单，其实并不容易 因为它要求人们 迅速地合作 我觉得这是个有趣的主意 我把它放到了设计专题讨论会上 结果非常成功 从那以后， 我在全球 70多个设计专题讨论活动中 让学生们和设计者，建筑师 甚至财富50强的首席技术官 这个练习在很多方面给了我们 深刻的启迪 教会我们合作的特性 在这里我跟你们分享一些
通常， 人们总是从 讨论开始着手完成这个任务 他们讨论一阵， 勾勒出结果会是什么样子 他们互相争论一番对错 然后花费点时间计划，组织 他们画一下图纸然后拿出意大利面条 他们用了大量的时间 把意大利面条组装得越来越高 然后最后，时间快要用完了 他们拿出棉花糖 小心翼翼地将棉花糖放到最上面 然后他们后退一步，哈哈 他们欣赏着他们的成果 但是绝大多数时候，真正发生的是 “哈哈” 变成了“糟了” 因为棉花糖的重量把整个结构 给压散架了
有那么一些人 他们的“糟了”时刻比其他人多 其中最糟的是新毕业的商学院学生 (笑声) 他们说谎，他们欺骗，很容易受干扰 他们的建筑构造非常蹩脚 当然也有一些团队 他们创造了更多的“哈哈”时刻 其中最好的，就是新毕业的幼儿园小朋友 (笑声) 这个真是很神奇 正如PETER告诉我们的 他们不但造出了最高的建筑 而且他们搭建的结构也是最有趣的
所以你会问 这是怎么回事？他们到底有什么特点？ Peter喜欢这样说： “因为没有任何孩子企图做 意大利面条公司的总裁。” 是的 他们没在争夺权力上花任何时间 但是其中还有另一个原因 因为商学院的学生受过的专业训练是 去寻找一个正确的计划 然后他们按照计划执行 然而事实是， 当他们把棉花糖放到顶部时 他们用完了有限的时间，然后呢 危机就降临了 听着很熟悉吧？是的。 幼儿园的孩子的做法不一样 他们从棉花糖开始 他们先建一个样板模型， 然后不断在模型上加建， 其间总是让棉花糖保持在最上面(不倒下来) 所以他们一直有很多机会去不断修正样板模型 于是设计者认识到这种合作是 这个互动过程中的重要因素 对每个版本，孩子都会迅速地得到反馈 他们知道什么行，什么不行
所以把握雏形的能力是真正的关键 让我们来看看不同的队伍是怎样表现的 大多数人建的塔的平均高度是20英尺 商学院学生， 大概是一半 律师好一些， 但也好不到哪里去 幼儿园的孩子，比大多数的成年人要好 谁做得最好呢？ 建筑师和工程师，谢天谢地。 (笑声) 我见过的最高的塔是39英寸 为什么呢？因为他们懂得三角形 和自我巩固的几何模式 是建筑 稳定结构的关键 总裁们比平均水平稍好一些 但是有趣的是 如果你在他们的小组里加一个行政助理 他们的成绩马上变得好很多 (笑声) 这真是令人难以置信， 你四处看看， 你说：“那个小组会赢。” 你很早就知道， 为什么呢？ 因为他们有特殊的 简化技巧 他们管理流程， 他们懂得流程 总之，任何一个小组积极管理并 专注于工作本身的话 小组的表现就有显著的提高 特殊技能以及善于使用简便的手法 两者的结合带来了成功 如果你有10个队参加这个活动 其中大概有6个队可以搭建可以直立的结构
我做了一个有趣的尝试 我想， 我们不妨来赌一次 所以我就提供了价值10万美元的软件给得胜的小组 你猜猜那些学设计的学生们会有什么样的反应？ 结果如何？ 这就是结果 没有一个小组完成了一个站立的建筑 哪怕任何一个小组完成一个一英寸的建筑 他们就可以把奖杯捧回去 所以，很有意思的是 高额奖金会有很大的影响。 之后我们在同样的学生中又重复了这个活动 你猜猜结果怎样？ 这回他们知道了做样版模型的价值 所以最差的那个小组 成为了最好的小组 他们用最少的时间完成了最高的建筑 这些对我们都有很深的教育意义 揭示了奖励和成功的本质
所以，你也许会问：怎么会有人 花时间写这么一个棉花糖的挑战 原因是我可以用 电子工具和流程 来帮助人们造汽车，电子游戏 和模拟视觉效果 而棉花糖的挑战教会我们 识别隐藏着的一些假设 因为， 坦白说 每个项目都有它们自己的棉花糖 这个挑战提供了可以分享的经验 一种共同的语言 处理问题的通用方法 就是这个简单的练习 可以给我们提供的有价值的经验
你们如果有兴趣 可以去marshmallowchallenge.com网站 这是一个你可以阅读的博客 告诉你怎样搭建棉花糖建筑 那里有具体的步骤说明 还有来自世界各地的稀奇古怪的例子 人们怎样调整系统 那里有世界记录
而我相信， 最根本的教意是： 设计其实是 一种交流运动 它要求我们把我们所有的神志都放到任务中 要求我们运用最佳的思维状态 我们的感知我们的行动 来迎接我们面对的挑战 而有的时候， 一个小小的样板模型的经验 会帮助我们 将“糟了” 的那一刻变成了“”哈哈”的一刻 那造成的结果是大不同的
谢谢你们
(掌声)
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Tom Wujec: Build a tower, build a team
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 there's 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 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 are the combination [that] 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)