full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Tom Wujec: Got a wicked problem? First, tell me how you make toast

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Some years ago, I stumbled across a simple design exercise that hlpes people understand and sovle complex problems, and like many of these design exercises, it kind of seems tiiravl at first, but under deep inspection, it turns out that it reveals unexpected trhtus about the way that we collaborate and make sense of things.

The exercise has three parts and begins with something that we all know how to do, which is how to make tsoat. It begins with a clean sheet of paper, a felt marker, and without using any wdros, you begin to draw how to make toast. And most people draw something like this. They draw a loaf of bread, which is selicd, then put into a toaster. The toast is then deposited for some time. It pops up, and then voila! After two minutes, toast and happiness.

Open Cloze


Some years ago, I stumbled across a simple design exercise that _____ people understand and _____ complex problems, and like many of these design exercises, it kind of seems _______ at first, but under deep inspection, it turns out that it reveals unexpected ______ about the way that we collaborate and make sense of things.

The exercise has three parts and begins with something that we all know how to do, which is how to make _____. It begins with a clean sheet of paper, a felt marker, and without using any _____, you begin to draw how to make toast. And most people draw something like this. They draw a loaf of bread, which is ______, then put into a toaster. The toast is then deposited for some time. It pops up, and then voila! After two minutes, toast and happiness.

Solution


  1. helps
  2. words
  3. trivial
  4. sliced
  5. truths
  6. toast
  7. solve

Original Text


Some years ago, I stumbled across a simple design exercise that helps people understand and solve complex problems, and like many of these design exercises, it kind of seems trivial at first, but under deep inspection, it turns out that it reveals unexpected truths about the way that we collaborate and make sense of things.

The exercise has three parts and begins with something that we all know how to do, which is how to make toast. It begins with a clean sheet of paper, a felt marker, and without using any words, you begin to draw how to make toast. And most people draw something like this. They draw a loaf of bread, which is sliced, then put into a toaster. The toast is then deposited for some time. It pops up, and then voila! After two minutes, toast and happiness.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
design exercise 2
supply chain 2
map shock 2
wicked problems 2
executive team 2


Important Words


  1. begins
  2. bread
  3. clean
  4. collaborate
  5. complex
  6. deep
  7. deposited
  8. design
  9. draw
  10. exercise
  11. exercises
  12. felt
  13. happiness
  14. helps
  15. inspection
  16. kind
  17. loaf
  18. marker
  19. minutes
  20. paper
  21. parts
  22. people
  23. pops
  24. problems
  25. put
  26. reveals
  27. sense
  28. sheet
  29. simple
  30. sliced
  31. solve
  32. stumbled
  33. time
  34. toast
  35. toaster
  36. trivial
  37. truths
  38. turns
  39. understand
  40. unexpected
  41. words
  42. years