Can you explain to a 5th grader?

“Have you heard of Raspberry Pi?” asked my friend, Rohit Chaudhri.

That conversation was the beginning of our year long journey teaching computer programming to bunch of 5th graders, on weekends.

If you are wondering what Raspberry Pi is, it is a low cost, credit-card sized computer – a favorite of Automation and Internet Of Things(IOTS) community.

Rohit had an ambitious goal to enable kids to build an automation project using Raspberry PI which required learning basics of electricity, electronics, computer and programming.

I had my reservations considering these topics are relatively complex and can be overwhelming for 5th graders. But I trusted his instincts and partnered to play a support role.

Rohit began his first session carrying a tiny flashlight. He flicked the switch couple of times asking: “what do you see?”. Kids replied with some amusement: “Light is On or Light is OFF”

“That is what you need to remember – light is ON or OFF. Computer and internet are built on the concept of ON and OFF. ON represents 1 and OFF represents 0 – referred as a bit. We will go over various topics in upcoming classes and you might feel they are complicated. But don’t let it overwhelm you – keep in mind the underlying concept is simple -Light is ON or OFF. “

Kids were listening attentively. They were connected and absorbing. Rohit’s messaging was effective.

It made me think. What enabled him to deliver a complex topic in such a simple way that even a 5th grader could understand in few minutes.

Use of flashlight was a great idea but I was intrigued – there is something more to it than the use of analogy. This experience and thought stayed with me.

During this time, I was working on a proposal. Proposal’s goal was to drive cost reduction in client’s massively complex and expensive business process. Our solution was leveraging innovative and leading-edge technologies.

I was confident of our solution and excited to present to my client. To my dismay my presentation turned out to be a nightmare. My client didn’t connect with what I was proposing. I was at the brink of losing a huge opportunity which I was working on for months.

I was wondering what went wrong.

A thought came to my mind – what if I had to present my proposal to 5th graders? What will make them connect? What will make them understand?

That led to series of questions.

Why Rohit was able to connect? It struck to me it was the simplicity of his message.

What made his message so simple? I realized it was the clarity.

But then how does one get the clarity? Answer is not that simple but definitely there has to be some level of critical thinking to seek clarity.

But then what is critical thinking?

How do you know you have done enough thinking?

How do you know you have enough clarity?

How do you know you have enough simplicity?

Many questions, no precise answer. But I decided to try something different.

Next day I gathered my team and told them we are going to reset ourselves. I want us to forget our solution and start with describing the problem in three (or fewer) phrases. There was silence and puzzlement at first. Then the discussion stared to flow. Arguments and counter-arguments went on for hours. Biggest surprise – we thought we knew it all – we didn’t. After few attempts, we boiled down the problem in three key phrases.

Problem:

We are dealing with an expensive business process because:

1. lack of standardization across disparate subprocesses

2. lack of measurements (metrics) which constrained systemic analysis and improvement

3. intensive human efforts throughout the process

Next step of casting the solution in three key phrases came out easier than I had thought as now we had better clarity on problem statement.

Solution:

We will drive significant savings by.

1. standardization across disparate subprocesses;

2. infusing measurements across the processes which will enable us to systemic analysis and improvement, leading to

3. higher level of automation throughout the process

On our comeback, in few simple phrases I conveyed the problem and the solution. Client was connected in first few minutes. Client was resonating to the message. The key was underlying

simplicity. This helped opening up the door to further explain details why we were in the best position to deliver the solution, eventually winning the opportunity.

Obviously, simplicity in communication is very powerful but it is not easy. There is no one size fits all solution, but I am sharing here a three-step framework that has worked for me and hope it help others.

Step -1 Mindset – Accept you never know enough.

This mindset is critical. Often, we believe we are thinking but in fact we are rearranging our biases. Besides biases there is a subtle influence of our ego that constraints us in accepting others thought. As in the example of my proposal I thought I knew problem well which prevented me from seeking further clarity.

Step -2 Seeking clarity – how?

Tactic I use – challenge myself to describe the subject in three or fewer phrases? This forces critical thinking which helps me attains clarity on the subject.

Step -3 Simple but not simpler – when is enough?

Bounce your idea to others – someone who is not part of your team. This helps you get you an outside-in perspective and audience’s perspective. If your message resonates in few minutes, you have enough simplicity to move forward. If not, calibrate and iterate.

Hope this helps. I would love to hear your side of the story from your experiences.