Five Steps for Turning Straw into Gold. Remember the story of Rumpelstiltskin? It’s about a girl of humble origins, imprisoned in a tower with a huge pile of straw and a spinning wheel. She’s in that predicament because an unsubstantiated … [Read more]
How to Make Learners Happy
Use Charlie Mingus' Law in Your Learning Design. Bassist Charlie Mingus once said “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.” What Mingus said is what I call his Law of … [Read more]
Life Is Analog…Mostly
The thing about math is that it's right or wrong, on or off, yes or no. Seven is a prime number, there's no improving it. The thing about life/business/culture and the things we make and do is that they are not math. Seth Godin Of course Seth is … [Read more]
Stop Global Whining
A JOB AID TO IMPROVE YOUR ATTITUDE . . . Remove passive-aggressive whining from your repertoire of behaviors Change the climate in your personal ecosphere Generate whine-free fallout that will spread indiscriminately Prework: Grab a … [Read more]
Presentation Tips
A JOB AID FOR PLANNING DELIVERY OF A PRESENTATION... that is being given (1) for the first time to a new type of audience (schoolteachers, say, instead of engineers) and (2) In a facility that cannot be checked out beforehand. CAUTION: Skipping … [Read more]
Writing Procedures
A JOB AID FOR WRITING PROCEDURES... that readers can follow without hating the writer or hacking the job. 1. ASK: Answer Six Key questions. a. Who does this task? d. Why is the job aid needed? b. When is it done? e. What … [Read more]
