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 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.
Pre nekoliko godina, ovde na TED-u, Piter Skilmen je uveo dizajnerski izazov nazvan beli slez izazov. I ideja je prilično jednostavna. Timovi od 4 člana treba da sagrade najvišu samo-stojeću strukturu od 20 štapića špageta, jednog metra selotejpa, jednog metra kanapa i belog sleza. Beli slez mora da bude na vrhu. I, iako izgleda stvarno jednostavno, ustvari je prilično teško, zato što tera ljude da sarađuju veoma brzo. I tako, pomislio sam da je ovo interesantna ideja i uklopio sam je u dizajnerske radionice. I bila je veliki uspeh. Od tada sam sproveo oko 70 dizajnerskih radionica u svetu sa studentima, dizajnerima, arhitektama, čak i sa CTO-ima (direktori tehnologije) iz Fortune 50 i ima nešto u vezi ove vežbe što otkriva veoma duboke lekcije o prirodi sarađivanja i želeo bih da podelim neke od njih sa vama.
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.
Dakle, obično, većina ljudi počinje orijentišući sebe prema zadatku. Pričaju o njemu, procenjuju kako će izgledati, bore se za moć, onda provedu vreme planirajući, organizujući. Skiciraju zadatak i izvade špagete. Oni provedu većinu svog vremena sklapajući štapiće u rastuću strukturu i onda, konačno, baš kada im vreme ističe, neko izvadi beli slez, onda ga pažljivo stave na vrh i onda se odmaknu i Ta-da! Dive se svom radu. Ali ono što se stvarno desi, u većini slučajeva, je da se 'ta-da' pretvori u 'uh-oh', zato što težina belog sleza prouzrokuje da se cela struktura savije i sruši.
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.
Dakle, postoje ljudi koji imaju više 'uh-oh' momenata od drugih i među najgorima su skorašnji diplomci poslovne škole. (Smeh) Oni lažu, varaju, postaju rastrojeni i proizvode stvarno očajne strukture. I, naravno, ima timova koji imaju više 'ta-da' struktura i, među najboljima, su skorašnji diplomci vrtića. (Smeh) I prilično je zapanjujuće, Kako nam Piter kaže, ne samo što proizvode najviše strukture, već su one i najzanimljivije od svih.
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 when they build prototypes along the way. 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.
Dakle, pitanje koje želite da postavite je: Kako to? Zašto? Šta je to sa njima? A Piter voli da kaže da "Nijedno dete ne provodi vreme pokušavajući da bude CEO (predsedavajući) 'Spagheti Inc-a'. Tačno. Oni ne provode vreme boreći se za moć. Ali postoji još jedan razlog. A razlog je što su studenti poslovne škole istrenirani da nađu jedini pravi plan, ok. I onda mogu da ga izvrše. Ono što se dešava je, kada stave beli zlez na vrh, ostanu bez vremena i šta se dešava? Kriza. Zvuči poznato, zar ne? Ono što deca iz vrtića rade drugačije je da oni počinju sa belim slezom i prave prototipe, uspešne prototipe, uvek držeći beli slez na vrhu, tako da imaju više prilika da poprave loše izgrađene prototipe usput. Dizajneri priznaju ovaj način saradnje kao suštinu iterativnog procesa. I sa svakom verzijom, deca dobijaju trenutne povratne informacije o tome šta uspeva, a šta ne.
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) Thirty-nine inches is the tallest structure I've seen. And why is it? Because they understand triangles and self-reinforcing 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 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.
Dakle, mogućnost igranja sa prototipovima je stvarno ključna, ali pogledajmo kako različiti timovi izvode zadatak. Dakle, prosek za većinu ljudi je oko 50-ak cm, studenti poslovnih škola, polovina toga, advokati, malo bolje, ali ne mnogo bolje od toga, deca iz vrtića, bolje nego većina odraslih. Ko je najbolji u tome? Arhitekte i inženjeri, srećom. (Smeh) 100-tinjak cm je bila visoka najviša struktura koju sam video. A zašto je tako? Zato što oni razumeju da su trouglovi i samo-jačajući geometrijski uzorci ključ za izgradnju stabilnih struktura. Dakle, CEO-ovi, malo bolji od proseka. Ali ovde postaje interesantno. Ako stavite izvršnog administratora u tim, oni postaju značajno bolji. (Smeh) Neverovatno je. Znate, pogledate okolo i znate "Ovaj tim će pobediti." Možete jednostavno predvideti. A zašto je tako? Zato što imaju specijalne veštine u smanjivanju nivoa podražljivosti. Oni upravljaju procesom, razumeju proces. I bilo koji tim koji upravlja i obraća veliku pažnju na rad će značajno popraviti izvođenje tima. Specijalne veštine i veštine smanjenja nivoa podražljivosti su kombinacija koja vodi ka čvrstom uspehu. Ako imate 10 timova koji tipično rade, imaćete možda oko 6 timova čije strukture stoje.
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 would have taken home the prize. So, isn't that 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.
I pokušao sam nešto interesantno. Pomislio sam, hajde da podignemo ulog. I tako sam ponudio softver u vrednosti od 10 000 dolara kao nagradu pobedničkom timu. Šta mislite da se desilo ovim studentima dizajna? Koji su rezultati? Evo šta se dogodilo. Nijedan tim nije imao strukturu koja stoji. Da je bilo ko sagradio, recimo, strukturu od 2,5 cm mogao je da odnese kući nagradu. Dakle, nije li interesantno da visoki ulozi imaju jak uticaj. Uradili smo vežbu ponovo sa istim studentima. Šta mislite da se dogodilo? Sada razumeju vrednost pravljenja prototipa. Tako da je isti tim koji je bio među najgorima prešao da bude među najboljima. Oni su proizveli najviše strukture za najkraće vreme. Dakle, tu postoji duboka lekcija za sve nas o prirodi podsticaja i uspeha.
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, a common stance to build the right prototype. And so, this is the value of the experience, of this so simple exercise.
Dakle, možete pitati: Zašto bi iko zapravo posvetio vreme pisajući izazov sa belim slezom? A razlog je -- Ja pomažem u kreiranju digitalnog alata i procesa da pomognem timovima da sagrade kola, igrice i vizuelne efekte. I ono što izazov belog sleza radi jeste da im pomaže da identifikuju sakrivene pretpostavke. Zato što, iskreno, svaki projekat ima svoj beli slez, zar ne. Izazov pruža zajedničko iskustvo, zajednički jezik, zajednički stav da se sagradi pravi prototip. I tako, ovo je vrednost ovog iskustva, ove tako jednostavne vežbe.
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 that are on this as well.
Oni koji su zainteresovani možete da odete na marshmallowchallenge.com. To je blog na kome možete gledati kako da sagradite beli slez. Postoje korak-po-korak uputstva o tome. Ima ludih primera iz celog sveta kako ljudi uštimavaju i prilagođavaju sistem. Postoji i svetski rekord u ovome.
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.
A ključna lekcija je, verujem, ta da je dizajn istinski kontaktni sport. Zahteva da uključimo sva čula u rešavanju zadatka i da primenimo naše najbolje razmišljanje, naša osećanja i naš rad u izazovu koji je pred nama. I, ponekad, mali prototip ovakvog iskustva je sve što treba nas promeni od 'uh-oh' momenta u 'ta-da' momenat. A to može napraviti razliku.
Thank you very much.
Hvala vam puno.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)