Build a tower, build a team

Build a tower, build a team | Tom Wujec

14 років тому

www.ted.com Tom Wujec from Autodesk presents some surprisingly deep research into the "marshmallow problem" -- a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. Who can build the tallest tower with these ingredients? And why does a surprising group always beat the average?
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

КОМЕНТАРІ: 240

@BallerEdits746 3 роки тому

i'm surprised that the kindergartners didn't eat up the marshmallows while building the tower

@peggystreetinfluencer 3 роки тому

I thought about the same thing! lol!

@gaviningham 8 років тому

"Among the best are recent graduates of... kindergarten!" Love this video & the way this simple exercise is used.

@bellejsan 4 роки тому

I also experienced the Marshmallow Challenge during a university workshop. Other departments did well in the challenge EXCEPT our department: College of Business department. This video was played after the workshop for processing and I really learned so much from it. Thanks!

@philabyebye 5 років тому

Just started doing this with my K-5 computer science classes. We have had a consistent "fail" rate of about 50% of the groups per class do not have a standing tower. For me, it'll be useful to do at the end of the year again too, and see if all the teamwork, collaboration, communication, and prototyping activities during the year, build more skills, and produce better tower results.

@sawkevinnoel7954 10 місяців тому

Did you end up doing the challenge at the end of the year? If so, what were the results?

@venice4free 3 роки тому

We just did this as well. My team won, but only because I told everyone to stop once we got a high enough tower. I looked around the room and realized that everyone else was starting to get overly confident and kept adding more stuff. I was banking on theirs all collapsing, which they did.

@AlonSandler 14 років тому

as a TEDtalks addict, i have seen over 95% of all talks uploaded to youtube - and this is the only talk so far i had a smile across my face for the whole talk. im sad i know too much now about this test to actually do it and see how good i get, but as an engineering undergraduate student i think ill do pretty good. Loved it, 5 stars if i could, "like" is underastimating this talk

@leducleadership 7 років тому

I love this exercise. We did it in one of my MBA classes and I use it in workshops that i do now.

@amitbhojwani2675 11 років тому

it is amazing to see that creativity has no age.........

@ProgressiveResources 12 років тому

Simple team building ideas can work but the facilitation has to be really good and meaningful. Tom's a good speaker, enjoyed this.

@faithbryant1730 4 місяці тому

I did this activity with my college class. They loved it. Many were relieved to watch the video and see that they weren't alone in failing.

@greatgoblinonizuka12 5 років тому

I lived this experience myself last Thursday and it's totally true, my team failed because no discussion was there and ideas like mine or others could actually been discussed and enhanced . The other team actually did that and made a tower of 48 centimeters. By the way we are systems engineers

@LacourWave 4 роки тому

Engineer Lmao i am in a class of people that most of them want to be engineer Result were predictable The half of the class that was from educational class from their beginning had the poorest results (still around 25 cm) they want to pretend engineer graduation Me and other mate's that came from industrial classes and poor theorical knowneldge made the bests tower around 40cm The best idea was still to tape the mashmallow to the roof

@demonicguardgaming8067 Рік тому

I'm doing this tomorrow for my year 9 STEM class and I would love to know what some of the winning designs were

@HiAdrian 14 років тому

Well i'm certainly glad to see architects&engineers at the top :)

@annabellezhen873 6 років тому

My partner and I did this during science lessons, and it was very easy. We made a pyramid and it was 40 cm tall with only 18 sticks of spaghetti. We were the only ones to use a square base instead of a triangular base.

@denezircarrijo3052 Рік тому

Excelente. A prática no curso de liderança foi bastante enriquecedora.

@elenaleksanyan1365 Рік тому

I participated to this challenge and I can state that it is indeed a very good teambuilding activity. It shows how every person in the team thinks individually and also how effective they can operate as a team. However, the most shocking fact is that kindergarten children get better results than the adults. It really makes me think how sometimes the urge to show a leadership skills in the team among the adults can disturb the work that much and create a chaos. Also very interesting factor, that a prize, which at the first sight should be motivating, turns out to be more of a stress factor and disturbs the work even more.

@goobytron2888 10 місяців тому

My guess as an educator is that kindergarten students tend to focus on and in the moment. Their ability for abstract thought is just emerging so they are less worried about, “what if I fail” and more on the immediate task. Taken to the other extreme. Think about older kids and adults that are so afraid of failure that they won’t even make an attempt. Also their may be a fun factor. Adults may see the task as silly or unimportant, embarrassing or beneath them.

@yahalife 3 роки тому

Even in current reality this ted talk makes sense. It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.

@briansmobile1 14 років тому

Design is a contact sport. Prototypes are an essential part of design.

@ali25120 2 роки тому

Thanks a lot Sir for sharing important lesson, "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 our thinking our feeling and our doing to the challenge we have at hand, prototypes are an essential part of the design. Excellent speech 👌👏👏👏👏

@user-ff1fm4ye2g Місяць тому

I found this very helpful in a CAPSTONE project I am working on. Thank you and I will be sharing this with my team!

@CutieRingoJoy 4 роки тому

Was trying to find video that explains the best about the challenge and this one was the best, just sent them this video

@peggystreetinfluencer 3 роки тому

Your presentation was very well structured! It had it all: good information, humor, anecdotes! Wow!

@robertodagaasjr7515 Рік тому

Thanks, wonderful inputs.

@AbreTuMente 4 роки тому

Thanks for sharing this amazing information!

@ali25120 2 роки тому

Thanks a lot Sir for sharing important lesson, "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 our thinking our feeling and our doing to the challenge we have at hand prototypes are an essential part of design. Excellent speech 👌👏👏👏👏

@NGUYENTHUHONG123 5 років тому

Im doing it in my class, really fun!

@dawnhooper9870 6 років тому

Very good message.

@ykedoodl 7 років тому

I asked the class to do this individually first. Many failed and we had some towers from 10-17" in height. Then I broke them into smaller groups of three and asked them to collaborate about the challenge. The groups built higher towers using the combined wisdom. They also team-built the second generation. It was interesting to note that the collaboration did not cure the fail rate which was about the same as when individuals did it. Collaboration did not achieve a reasonable limit. Teams attempted to build too high and collapses were frequent. Building towers out of spaghetti, tape and string is obviously difficult.

@sherrelllouis5546 6 років тому

Did you give them the same time frame for both individual and team collaborative work? 10 minutes?

@nosafespace 14 років тому

one of the best talks so far!

@harmambergen3722 7 років тому

I could send this video to every overwatch player I know

@quandmeme9970 4 роки тому

Games are opposite of the delayed gratification and fpss destroy brain's hipoccampus and neo cortex. lol

@Snow-fb7oy 4 роки тому

@@quandmeme9970 have you ever played a game?

@pancho3495 3 роки тому

And they still wouldn’t play objective.

@sooome9294 6 років тому

We did this in business class and my group did it in 16 min standing tall on its own. Took picture to prove it.

@satintegro 12 років тому

It's a wery good exercise, we use it allot in our team building programs.

@YoungShizzie Рік тому

team work makes the dream work !

@nikolaosvitoroulis7630 5 років тому

Love that 480p

@reapfreak 14 років тому

I love how he mentioned falure is so important. That's why I hate when people within the government try to keep failures afloat at the expense of us all.

@oxlie_5093 4 роки тому

no matter how sturdy the tower or how much imagination goes into a tower it will never be able to deflect the emerald splash

@katemc2999 9 років тому

Love this! I'll be trying this with my kindergarten class next year :D

@konstantinos7024 4 роки тому

How it went?? 😂

@howdysecret7036 3 роки тому

Yeh

@CrackeDHesi 10 років тому

We did this today at Massey university and it was about 75cm high, very fun!

@gaviningham 8 років тому

4:49 shows what happens when people strive too much for results - many will recognise this in their businesses.

@CutieRingoJoy 4 роки тому

Gavin Ingham unless your experience with building things

@ExcelTutorials1 3 роки тому

THIS IS FACINATING!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!

@doedicurus 14 років тому

his face lights up when he talks about the 39 inch structure, if you catch my drift.

@workaholic888 14 років тому

oh wow...i did this!! really fun!!

@jessicagentry2200 2 роки тому

This is very educational.

@user-iv3rp5bl2m 5 місяців тому

what is a good description of the video as a whole

@liquidminds 14 років тому

we did that once with sheets of paper, some tape and a pair of scissors... was fun.

@valerievankerckhove9325 4 роки тому

Morale of the story: hire kindergartners.

@molotera8789 4 роки тому

“It took me 4 years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child” - Pablo Picasso

@rigdigwus 3 роки тому

actually it is hire engineers and architects

@shamshamza9577 5 років тому

very good videos thank you very much for this job !!!!!!!

@shamshamza9577 5 років тому

thank you bro

@shamshamza9577 5 років тому

your welcom

@damtorres4593 5 років тому

Very gooooood🖤

@user-tu1jq5of2n Рік тому

1:05～4:34 6:15～6:43

@jdglancy 3 роки тому

Would love to see mechanical/civil engineers vs electrical engineers.

@Doerenee 11 років тому

me too as I am studying that ! :D

@merutiwari-admiralyt8539 3 роки тому

What are the important elements for building an effective team?

@chihori8053 4 роки тому

His script has been published in high school textbooks across Japan.

@akashanddavidfirebeatsprod8749 2 роки тому

thanks

@terrywickenden77 3 роки тому

Has Tom or somebody been able to adapt some form of this or another suitable challenge for online classes

@xridethelightningx 13 років тому

yeaaaahhhh go engineers!

@user-ct8vl9ss8i 5 років тому

I can't hear the video clips ㅠㅠㅠ

@treizealexzander3652 11 років тому

try it 2 weeks ago at JCLC...our tower was only 7 cm...

@manuelguerra3382 6 років тому

My whole class did this as a challenge and everyone’s right to only use for sticks to hold it up in the rest just build up the marshmallow and it all fell and me and my team we did we made like an Eiffel tower design and we were the only team who had their structure standing

@NahyanChowdhury 14 років тому

fantastic

@WeatherManToBe 14 років тому

@mayhem8808 Yeah you're right, he lets the lisp slip a few times and he has perfectly fitted clothing.

@Aaberg123 14 років тому

Did this back when I went to high school.

@SandraBug2 12 років тому

i had to do this in class and my group's tower was 2 inches!!! :D

@MitchellTF 2 роки тому

I didn't realize that this actually was ten years old!

@relief0123 6 років тому

재밌네요~

@anindyadey2292 4 роки тому

The content seems so similar to a book - How to create successful teams

@SteveHaldi 11 років тому

I have a daughter currently in kindergarten. We could all learn a thing or two from them...

@hinanisar859 Рік тому

Planning and organzing are enough for team?

@cuarzotv9123 3 роки тому

Very interesting

@panchalkamal 4 роки тому

Awesome

@FrancisRodrigues 5 років тому

A Marshmallow challenge explanation start by 5:25

@NathansWargames 13 років тому

im doin this at collage tommoro lol

@luvinafirst3651 4 місяці тому

We did this experiment in our communication class

@SubhamoyChakraborti 9 років тому

*Have you taken the Marshmallow challenge?* Lot of learning, specially about the importance of prototyping and identifying the marshmallow of your project. The bragging part: We had taken this challenge during our ***** program on Innovation (Driving Growth through Innovation), and made the structure successfully stand. Though we didn't make the tallest structure, we got a gift for doing the right things during the process.

@samsonoke3051 8 років тому

Brilliant!!!

@euph0rya672 4 роки тому

Samson Oke boomer

@Talazorn 11 років тому

And go architects too!

@GAM3VIDZROCKS33 6 років тому

build a tower, build a team, build a wall

@iznmhc 6 років тому

3:43

@yukominakochan 11 років тому

I'm studing architecture, and my design teacher make us do this, my record is 63 cm.

@user-nn3rj1zr8z 4 роки тому

My record is 97

@juliamaidman7299 6 років тому

I am learning how to do a marshmallow challenge.

@JamesNajjar43 13 років тому

i did this in my class

@shanershaner1 12 років тому

my group got 34.5 inches in class today OWNAGE!

@hogepief 4 роки тому

The audio is gone.

@user-kf8uz2sz2g 4 роки тому

1:47 1:59 2:02 2:14 2:17 2:25 2:35 3:06 3:16 3:57 3:59 4:33

@MrAnimationize2 10 років тому

wow, if thats actually true, although highly doubtful, thats impressive

@kitkat-su3fr 5 років тому

i did this in class today, and damn it was hard

@therealspookspeak 3 роки тому

We use straws instead of spaghettis

@alexanderleeart 10 років тому

I don't see how "collaboration" has anything to do with the one plan vs. iterative approaches. I think the study would have been a lot more straightforward if the task was done by individuals, and then maybe later that could also be compared with the performance of groups. definitely seems like a useful study though.

@MsSofia881 9 років тому

we watched the video after the exercise and could totally relate. give the task to a team and watch them.

@justinsofo9280 5 років тому

Alexander Lee obviously has no idea and a low iq. See Robert Kientop's comments below. Planning and iterative approaches has everything to do with working as a team and collaboration.

@angelmoralesb 3 роки тому

Prototyping - Coursera 2020 Here :)

@waltersso 10 років тому

which business school did you graduate from?

@waltersso 10 років тому

did he do it in 18 minutes?

@SangramMishraMCP 2 роки тому

I would add another dimension to the talk on 5:24 min that's attitude. Success can be achieved with combination of Incentives + High skills + Good Attitude