640 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,000 Several years ago here at TED, Peter Skillman 640 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:22,000 introduced a design challenge 640 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:24,000 called the marshmallow challenge. 640 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:26,000 And the idea's pretty simple: 640 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,000 Teams of four have to build the tallest free-standing structure 640 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:30,000 out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, 640 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,000 one yard of tape, one yard of string 640 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,000 and a marshmallow. 640 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,000 The marshmallow has to be on top. 640 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,000 And, though it seems really simple, it's actually pretty hard 640 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,000 because it forces people 640 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,000 to collaborate very quickly. 640 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:45,000 And so, I thought this was an interesting idea, 640 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,000 and I incorporated it into a design workshop. 640 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,000 And it was a huge success. 640 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,000 And since then, I've conducted 640 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,000 about 70 design workshops across the world 640 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,000 with students and designers and architects, 640 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,000 even the CTOs of the Fortune 50, 640 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,000 and there's something about this exercise 640 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:03,000 that reveals very deep lessons 640 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,000 about the nature of collaboration, 640 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,000 and I'd like to share some of them with you. 640 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,000 So, normally, most people begin 640 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,000 by orienting themselves to the task. 640 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,000 They talk about it, they figure out what it's going to look like, 640 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,000 they jockey for power. 640 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,000 Then they spend some time planning, organizing, 640 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,000 they sketch and they lay out spaghetti. 640 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,000 They spend the majority of their time 640 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,000 assembling the sticks into ever-growing structures. 640 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,000 And then finally, just as they're running out of time, 640 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,000 someone takes out the marshmallow, 640 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,000 and then they gingerly put it on top, 640 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,000 and then they stand back, and -- ta-da! -- 640 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,000 they admire their work. 640 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:43,000 But what really happens, most of the time, 640 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,000 is that the "ta-da" turns into an "uh-oh," 640 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,000 because the weight of the marshmallow causes the entire structure 640 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,000 to buckle and to collapse. 640 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:52,000 So there are a number of people 640 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,000 who have a lot more "uh-oh" moments than others, 640 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,000 and among the worst are recent graduates of business school. 640 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,000 (Laughter) 640 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,000 They lie, they cheat, they get distracted 640 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:06,000 and they produce really lame structures. 640 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:08,000 And of course there are teams 640 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,000 that have a lot more "ta-da" structures, 640 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,000 and among the best are recent graduates of kindergarten. 640 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,000 (Laughter) 640 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,000 And it's pretty amazing. 640 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,000 As Peter tells us, 640 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:21,000 not only do they produce the tallest structures, 640 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,000 but they're the most interesting structures of them all. 640 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:26,000 So the question you want to ask is: 640 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,000 How come? Why? What is it about them? 640 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,000 And Peter likes to say that 640 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,000 none of the kids spend any time 640 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,000 trying to be CEO of Spaghetti, Inc. Right? 640 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:37,000 They don't spend time jockeying for power. 640 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:39,000 But there's another reason as well. 640 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,000 And the reason is that business students are trained 640 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,000 to find the single right plan, right? 640 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,000 And then they execute on it. 640 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,000 And then what happens is, when they put the marshmallow on the top, 640 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,000 they run out of time and what happens? 640 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,000 It's a crisis. 640 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,000 Sound familiar? Right. 640 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,000 What kindergarteners do differently 640 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,000 is that they start with the marshmallow, 640 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,000 and they build prototypes, successive prototypes, 640 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,000 always keeping the marshmallow on top, 640 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:07,000 so they have multiple times to fix when they build prototypes along the way. 640 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,000 Designers recognize this type of collaboration 640 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,000 as the essence of the iterative process. 640 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,000 And with each version, kids get instant feedback 640 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,000 about what works and what doesn't work. 640 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,000 So the capacity to play in prototype is really essential, 640 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,000 but let's look at how different teams perform. 640 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:27,000 So the average for most people is around 20 inches; 640 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:29,000 business schools students, about half of that; 640 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,000 lawyers, a little better, but not much better than that, 640 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:34,000 kindergarteners, better than most adults. 640 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,000 Who does the very best? 640 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:39,000 Architects and engineers, thankfully. 640 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:44,000 (Laughter) 640 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,000 Thirty-nine inches is the tallest structure I've seen. 640 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,000 And why is it? Because they understand triangles 640 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,000 and self-reinforcing geometrical patterns 640 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,000 are the key to building 640 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,000 stable structures. 640 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,000 So CEOs, a little bit better than average, 640 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,000 but here's where it gets interesting. 640 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:03,000 If you put you put an executive admin. on the team, 640 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,000 they get significantly better. 640 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,000 (Laughter) 640 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,000 It's incredible. You know, you look around, you go, "Oh, that team's going to win." 640 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,000 You can just tell beforehand. And why is that? 640 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:14,000 Because they have special skills 640 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,000 of facilitation. 640 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,000 They manage the process, they understand the process. 640 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,000 And any team who manages 640 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,000 and pays close attention to work 640 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:26,000 will significantly improve the team's performance. 640 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,000 Specialized skills and facilitation skills 640 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,000 are the combination that leads to strong success. 640 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,000 If you have 10 teams that typically perform, 640 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:36,000 you'll get maybe six or so that have standing structures. 640 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,000 And I tried something interesting. 640 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,000 I thought, let's up the ante, once. 640 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,000 So I offered a 10,000 dollar prize of software to the winning team. 640 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:47,000 So what do you think happened to these design students? 640 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:49,000 What was the result? 640 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,000 Here's what happened: 640 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,000 Not one team had a standing structure. 640 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,000 If anyone had built, say, a one inch structure, 640 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,000 they would have taken home the prize. 640 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:03,000 So, isn't that interesting? That high stakes 640 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,000 have a strong impact. 640 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,000 We did the exercise again with the same students. 640 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:09,000 What do you think happened then? 640 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,000 So now they understand the value of prototyping. 640 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,000 So the same team went from being the very worst 640 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,000 to being among the very best. 640 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,000 They produced the tallest structures in the least amount of time. 640 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:24,000 So there's deep lessons for us 640 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,000 about the nature of incentives and success. 640 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,000 So, you might ask: Why would anyone 640 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,000 actually spend time writing a marshmallow challenge? 640 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:34,000 And the reason is, I help create 640 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,000 digital tools and processes 640 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,000 to help teams build cars and video games 640 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,000 and visual effects. 640 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:42,000 And what the marshmallow challenge does 640 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:45,000 is it helps them identify the hidden assumptions. 640 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,000 Because, frankly, 640 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:50,000 every project has its own marshmallow, doesn't it? 640 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:52,000 The challenge provides a shared experience, 640 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,000 a common language, 640 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,000 a common stance to build the right prototype. 640 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,000 And so, this is the value of the experience, 640 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,000 of this so simple exercise. 640 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,000 And those of you who are interested 640 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:04,000 may want to go to MarshmallowChallenge.com. 640 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,000 It's a blog that you can look at 640 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,000 how to build the marshmallows. 640 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,000 There's step-by-step instructions on this. 640 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:13,000 There are crazy examples from around the world 640 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,000 of how people tweak and adjust the system. 640 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,000 There's world records that are on this as well. 640 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,000 And the fundamental lesson, I believe, 640 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:21,000 is that design truly is 640 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:23,000 a contact sport. 640 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,000 It demands that we bring all of our senses to the task, 640 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:28,000 and that we apply the very best of our thinking, 640 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,000 our feeling and our doing 640 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:33,000 to the challenge that we have at hand. 640 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,000 And sometimes, a little prototype of this experience 640 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,000 is all that it takes to turn us 640 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,000 from an "uh-oh" moment to a "ta-da" moment. 640 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:42,000 And that can make a big difference. 640 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,000 Thank you very much. 640 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,000 (Applause)