Let the class begin...
Ok, last week I asked you guys to design for me the audience seats of a movie theater in an optimized way. I didn't tell you what to optimize, of course, because I don't know how far optimization can go. No one does. There were millions of possibilities, so I set you guys completely free to show me your real potential and will to solve problems. I got some amazing works, and also some very shitty ones. Let's start by the work of Mr. Bloh. Who is he? Oh ok... So Mr. Bloh presented his work with very nice graphics. Which program did you use to do this? Oh impressive. Very well done for such a short time, I can see you gave yourself to the task. Just let me ask you a question. What are these for? Oh for the arms... You thought of a comfortable position and all? Nice... Just tell me one thing, this person sits here very comfortably, and what about the one who sits here? They have to fight to see who puts their arm there? Oh, you didn't think about it...? Well it's ok, I was just wondering... So next we have...
Oh what Mr. Bloh? You fixed the problem? Already?! With that computer over there? Wow! So fast? Are you sure? Do you want to show it to the class? Ok... Oh so you put one for each person so they don't have to fight over it. Ok... Are you sure you want to submit it like this? Oh you look confident! So you can't or don't want to think a little bit more about this? No? Ok Mr. Bloh, so tell me one thing, how many people fit in the movie theater now? 200? And how many did before? 300? So you kicked out one third of the people in order to put extra hand thingies which many people won't use anyway? You put an extra distance between anyone on a date, or someone who just wants to comment about the movie with the friend by their side... And you call that problem solving???
What? We got to make sacrifices sometimes? So you come up with the answer a 3 year old could have thought of, the most obvious answer to the immediate problem I gave you, forgetting completely about any other factors, and you call yourself a problem solver? Problem solving is not about making sacrifices. If you got to sacrifice something, obviously, the problem was not solved. Presenting an idea full of collateral effects is not solving. Many times it might actually be the source of a new problem which no one had never even thought of. In your effort to give everyone's arms a rest, you slowed down the life of the 100 people left outside, and of the boy who was planning to kiss his date for the first time during a romantic scene.
What? You can't always have it all? Nothing is perfect?! Are you here to solve a problem or to force your priorities on people? To tell them what they have to sacrifice? Mr. Bloh, you are very talented with that computer over there. Your abilities are impressive, but I got to tell you that you are very weak on your ideas. Seeing how little thought you gave to the big picture, and how satisfied you got with your shortcut to solve a sub-problem, I'd advise you to stick to the drawing and leave the imagination for someone else. If you are not willing to start right now fixing your defensive attitude, and the way you hang on to your own ideas, I don't think this class can do much for you. You will never be part of the solution, and will constantly be part of the problem.
And this message is for all of you. Don't fool yourself if you are thinking Mr. Bloh is much worse than you. The truth is that at least 90% of you came to this class with the exactly same self-righteous attitude. Every year an unfortunate student is unlucky enough to be the one I pick on after the first task. This was Mr. Bloh's year. But the truth is that almost each one of you comes here with this close-minded attitude, and I can see it in your work. Each one picked a specific problem to solve, and committed a lot of sacrifices on the way. The world is full of people like this, and that's not solving our problems. In fact, looking at the big picture one finds out that the sacrifices have become the norm, and everyone is ok with them, while the so-called problem solvers of our society keep on pushing their priorities on everyone else.
How to solve problems? Well, the first thing you have to understand is that no one is going to solve a problem alone. No single human being is able to see the big picture. The president knows the solution? The CEO, the Pope? If none of you, talented graduate students, was capable of making a perfect movie theater, how is it that we even consider the idea of a person knowing what's best for millions of people?
Well, if alone you can't, maybe in a group? Maybe if all 30 of you put together the best point of each one's idea and made one single movie theater. Maybe then you would reach perfection? I'm going to let you try, just for educational purposes, but I'll tell you in advance that there will be unsatisfied people at the end. Definitely. Happens every year. The class gets together, takes forever to reach a consensus, and when we present the final project to the public, problems and more problems start to come up. Nevertheless, every new class takes it as a challenge to be the first one to please every single client. And every year I see the confident smiles fade away as the customers point out their particular unsatisfaction. It's discouraging, right? But believe me when I say that it's awful for me too. Your failure is my failure. Who am I to solve the problem solving thing on the first place? So I'll make it clear since now that I'm not going to turn any of you into problem solvers. I simply can't.
No one has ever reached perfection, but believe me, class after class, the projects get better and better. And there are many reasons for that... The ever faster advancements of technology, for example, allow us to every time offer something which wasn't possible before. The grow of the internet and easiness of communication is also allowing us to be more aware of the big picture. Advancements in our moral codes, and the slow replacement of old dogmas is also opening our eyes for what really matters. We are starting to understand the need for interdisciplinary cooperation in order to form an ever growing picture, to understand that all our problems are related to the same thing: people on Earth. All problems are related to human beings, we created problems on Earth, and we are the spoiled ones who want more. And all the tools we can count on to solve these problems are all here in nature. We have to learn how to optimize things withing this context, without sacrifices.
Class dismissed =)
3 comments:
Dear teacher,
I was in your class for this project along with some other students unfortunately we were not able to finish it. This is why.
Just as you mentioned, it is not possible to solve a problem by ourselves. So me and some friends decided to make a team specially for this project. All the team members have different friends in different areas (engineering, politics, biology, chemestry, even the arts!) and we all consulted all of our friends. We worked very hard on this issue trying to listen to all of the sides and trying to incorporate all the perspective.
Eventually, the team became unmanageable even when there was only 5 of us officially there. It reminds me of the story written about the team assigned to designe microsoft windows'S vista shutdown menu. The team was made only by 8 people, but those 8 are connected to more, and so on and so on... A simple function took weeks and weeks of labor and it cost the company even the loss of some of its best employees, who found themselves frustrated because they were paralized by the input of the interdiscplinary team that they ahd to take into account. Finally the end product is a shut down menu that provides 15 different ways to shut down a laptop ... which would please more people right? well, A writer concludes about the topic with reminding us that not necessarily an abundance of choices make people happy.
We were coming up with chairs that could recline, that had feet rests, head rests, that you could turn and tilt, but in the end, we all could see it was not the best product it could be. And we could never finish it because we tried to please all. In the end we had to face the truth, some things DO come down to sacrifice.
You first start off your speech by bashing Mr. Bloh for making sacrifices because "nothing is perfect" but in the end you admit it yourself that not everyone can be pleased.
How do you face that ? Do you really think that skill and capacity to do something can be equated to self-righteousness? There are just questions that I have, I don't think that knowing that you are good at something, a biologist being good a biology for example, or a coder of software at coding, is not saying that they know best, it is just saying that they know their craft and I respect that.
Im sorry teacher if Im out of line, its just me and my team mates are frustrated that we couldn't do our job as engineers well because we were trying to please everybody.
The windows shutdown button:
http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-crapfest.html
Choices and the windows button:
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/11/21.html
To whom it may concern:
Recently, I was utterly appalled due to the lack of seating in a metropolitan theater. You see, I met this beautiful woman - in all aspects in that she is intelligent, fun, all of the things one could possibly be looking for - and I made the mistake of taking her to your establishment.
We wanted to both see one of your shows as it would have helped me show her all of the things we had in common - I mean, I was desperate and a movie that we both had wanted to see had been the best option at the time. In any case, although your worker had superb customer service we were told that he would be unable to sit us in at that time slot.
He said that they had recently upgraded their seats and although they had great reviews for their comfortable seats the customer demand was bogging them down.
She looked at me questioningly, wondering what I would do to lighten the situation and she could obviously tell I was nervous and she calmly said, "Do you want to go for a walk in the park until the next showing? I don't mind...".
Perfection, to the way she intoned her questions and having the ability to make all my worries melt away at a mere consonant from her chiming voice. Genius, I thought. Rather than a cliche touch of the wrist or living vicariously through the characters on the screen we would leave the theater and make our own movie.
As we walked amongst the verdant grass and tree leaves with the Muses' arts displayed along the park we found an innocent looking bench. The normal painted black metal with the polished wood slabs, we took the invitation to sit promptly.
We ended up talking well until the sun came down and the following showing's start time passed without notice. Laughing at the situation and our mutually favorable characters, as well as revealing our weaknesses be it foods or fears of the future. Retaining the distance that most would have deemed appropriate - despite my inner desires to feel the electricity flowing between our fingers - I heard a rumble like a bumble bee that could not escape the honey jar.
"Are you hungry?" I laughed the question out. "Dinner is on me tonight, what would you like?"
She merely giggled and nodded her head, lost within her own mind about what she wanted to fulfill her hunger.
And that is where it happened. Within our own mutually exclusive panorama, my soul jolted and I could feel her soul could perceive that momentary weakness. Your lack of seating had originally pain-stricken me, because I had wanted the night to be pristinely perfect. Yet, in light of your questionable motives to keep me out of my intended dream world, I was able to find it outside and pave my own path.
No matter your intention, be it for mere profit or to please your customer base, I found nirvana at its expense.
And for that I thank you.
Sincerely,
CENSORED
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