Build a tower, build a team | Tom Wujec
Summary
TLDRThe Marshmallow Challenge, introduced by Peter Skillman at TED, is a simple yet insightful team-building exercise where groups construct the tallest free-standing structure using spaghetti, tape, string, and a marshmallow on top. The challenge reveals deep lessons about collaboration, with kindergarteners surprisingly outperforming business school graduates by building prototypes and iterating. Architects excel due to their understanding of geometry. The exercise underscores the importance of prototyping, facilitation skills, and the impact of incentives on performance, providing a common language and experience for effective teamwork.
Takeaways
- 🏗️ The Marshmallow Challenge is a design exercise where teams build the tallest free-standing structure using spaghetti sticks, tape, string, and a marshmallow on top.
- 👥 The challenge tests collaboration skills and reveals insights about how different groups work together under time pressure.
- 📈 The average height of structures built by most people is around 20 inches, but kindergarteners and architects often outperform others due to their iterative prototyping and understanding of structural principles.
- 📊 Business school graduates tend to struggle, often due to their rigid approach to finding a single right plan and not adapting well to the iterative process.
- 🎓 Kindergarteners excel because they focus on building with the marshmallow in mind from the start, allowing for multiple iterations and learning opportunities.
- 🔍 The iterative process of prototyping is crucial for success, as it provides instant feedback and opportunities for improvement.
- 🤔 The challenge highlights the importance of not just specialized skills, but also facilitation skills in managing the collaborative process effectively.
- 💰 High stakes can have a negative impact on performance, as seen when a $10,000 prize was offered and no team succeeded in building a standing structure.
- 🛠️ Understanding the value of prototyping can dramatically improve a team's performance, as demonstrated when the same students who failed with high stakes went on to build the tallest structures.
- 🌐 The Marshmallow Challenge serves as a metaphor for identifying hidden assumptions in projects and emphasizes the need for a shared experience and language to build effective prototypes.
- 📝 The exercise is a simple yet powerful tool for teams in various fields, from car manufacturing to video game development, to learn and apply collaborative and prototyping skills.
Q & A
What is the Marshmallow Challenge?
-The Marshmallow Challenge is a design challenge where teams of four must build the tallest free-standing structure using 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and a marshmallow, which must be placed on top of the structure.
Why is the Marshmallow Challenge considered difficult?
-The Marshmallow Challenge is difficult because it requires quick collaboration and forces participants to balance planning with execution, often leading to structures collapsing under the weight of the marshmallow.
What did the speaker incorporate the Marshmallow Challenge into and why?
-The speaker incorporated the Marshmallow Challenge into a design workshop because it was a huge success and revealed deep lessons about the nature of collaboration.
What is the usual process teams follow when participating in the Marshmallow Challenge?
-Teams usually start by orienting themselves to the task, discussing and planning, organizing and sketching, laying out spaghetti, assembling the structure, and finally placing the marshmallow on top as time runs out.
Why do business school graduates often have more 'uh-oh' moments in the Marshmallow Challenge?
-Business school graduates often have more 'uh-oh' moments because they are trained to find a single right plan and execute it, which can lead to a crisis when the marshmallow is added and the structure collapses.
How do kindergarteners approach the Marshmallow Challenge differently?
-Kindergartners approach the challenge by starting with the marshmallow and building successive prototypes, always keeping the marshmallow on top, which allows them to receive instant feedback and make adjustments.
What is the average height of structures built in the Marshmallow Challenge?
-The average height of structures built in the Marshmallow Challenge is around 20 inches.
Who tends to perform the best in the Marshmallow Challenge?
-Architects and engineers tend to perform the best due to their understanding of stable structures and geometrical patterns.
What impact does adding a high-stakes reward have on the performance in the Marshmallow Challenge?
-Adding a high-stakes reward, such as a $10,000 prize, can negatively impact performance, as it was observed that no team had a standing structure when such a reward was offered.
What is the role of an executive admin in improving a team's performance in the Marshmallow Challenge?
-An executive admin can significantly improve a team's performance due to their facilitation skills, process management, and understanding of the iterative process.
What is the fundamental lesson the speaker believes the Marshmallow Challenge teaches about design?
-The fundamental lesson is that design is a contact sport that requires the application of all senses, thinking, feeling, and doing to address challenges effectively, and that prototyping can turn 'uh-oh' moments into 'ta-da' moments.
Outlines
🏗️ The Marshmallow Challenge: A Lesson in Collaboration
The first paragraph introduces the 'marshmallow challenge,' a design exercise where teams must construct the tallest free-standing structure using spaghetti sticks, tape, string, and a marshmallow on top. It highlights the difficulty and the importance of quick collaboration. The speaker shares their experience conducting workshops worldwide and notes the deep insights gained about teamwork. The average approach to the task is described, where most teams plan and build, only to have their structures collapse under the marshmallow's weight. The paragraph humorously points out that business school graduates often perform poorly, while kindergarteners excel due to their iterative approach and lack of power struggles. The importance of prototyping and the iterative process is emphasized, with architects and engineers emerging as the best performers due to their understanding of structural stability. The impact of high stakes on performance is also discussed, with an anecdote about a failed attempt at incentivizing better results with a cash prize.
🚀 Learning from Failure: The Power of Prototyping
The second paragraph delves into the lessons learned from the marshmallow challenge, particularly the value of prototyping. It recounts an instance where the same students, after understanding the importance of prototyping, improved dramatically, becoming the best at the task. The paragraph explores the impact of incentives on success and failure, and the speaker's role in creating digital tools for collaborative projects. The marshmallow challenge is positioned as a tool for identifying hidden assumptions in projects, providing a shared experience and language for building effective prototypes. The speaker invites interested individuals to visit MarshmallowChallenge.com for further insights, instructions, and examples. The fundamental lesson conveyed is that design is an interactive and sensory experience requiring the best of our thinking, feeling, and doing. The paragraph concludes with the transformative power of a simple prototype to turn failures into successes and the applause from the audience.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Marshmallow Challenge
💡Collaboration
💡Prototype
💡Iterative Process
💡Business School Graduates
💡Kindergarteners
💡Incentives
💡Facilitation
💡Design Workshop
💡Stability
💡Shared Experience
Highlights
The Marshmallow Challenge is a design exercise where teams build the tallest free-standing structure using spaghetti sticks, tape, string, and a marshmallow on top.
The challenge tests quick collaboration and problem-solving skills among team members.
The exercise has been successfully incorporated into design workshops worldwide.
The challenge reveals deep lessons about the nature of collaboration.
Most teams begin by orienting themselves to the task and planning before starting to build.
The 'ta-da' moment often turns into an 'uh-oh' as the marshmallow causes the structure to collapse.
Business school graduates tend to struggle with the challenge, often producing weak structures.
Kindergarten graduates excel in the challenge, creating both tall and interesting structures.
Business students are trained to find a single right plan and execute it, which can lead to crisis when time runs out.
Kindergarteners start with the marshmallow and build successive prototypes, learning from each iteration.
Architects and engineers perform the best due to their understanding of stable geometrical patterns.
The presence of an executive admin on a team significantly improves performance due to their facilitation skills.
High stakes can negatively impact performance, as seen when no team won a high-value prize due to increased pressure.
Understanding the value of prototyping can lead to significant improvements in performance.
The Marshmallow Challenge helps identify hidden assumptions in project planning.
The challenge provides a shared experience and common language for teams to build the right prototype.
Design is a contact sport that requires the application of all senses and the best of our thinking, feeling, and doing.
Transcripts
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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