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Simplifying complex ideas through fun and insightful sketches. Explore topics from science, creativity, psychology, and more explained in pictures.

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Recent sketches

The trust battery illustration with a manager considering 2 employees based on their past interactions

The trust battery: A handy metaphor to think about trust

We know it intuitively: we trust each person we meet to varying degrees. The trust battery is a metaphor that helps you think about and visualise these trust levels. The concept is from Tobi Lütke, the CEO of Shopify. He explains, for example, that when a new colleague joins your company the trust battery between the two of you may start out at around 50%. Each time the new colleague acts in a way that earns your trust that level increases, and if they let you down the trust battery level goes down. It can be long and slow to fill up the trust battery yet quick to drain. Each time we interact with someone we are subconsciously considering the level of their trust battery and that level affects how we respond to people. Lütke says at Shopify they found it a useful way to surface and talk about trust in reviews without it feeling too personal. Also see: The trust equation RACI The accountability ladder I learned about it from the excellent book It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work…We know it intuitively: we trust each person we meet to varying degrees. The trust battery is a metaphor that helps you think about and visualise these trust levels. The concept is from Tobi Lütke, the CEO of Shopify. He explains, for example, that when a new colleague joins your company the trust battery between the two of you may start out at around 50%. Each time the new colleague acts in a way that earns your trust that level increases, and if they let you down the trust battery level goes down. It can be long and slow to fill up the trust battery yet quick to drain. Each time we interact with someone we are subconsciously considering the level of their trust battery and that level affects how we respond to people. Lütke says at Shopify they found it a useful way to surface and talk about trust in reviews without it feeling too personal. Also see: The trust equation RACI The accountability ladder I learned about it from the excellent book It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work

18 May 2019

The 3-day effect

The 3-day effect is the name give to what happens to us after being out in Nature for 3 days or more. Something about it resets us and improves our mood, our wellbeing, and how well our brain is working. Observed by river rafting guide Ken Sanders who used to see a marked change in the groups he led on the 3rd day of being out on the river, it’s known as the 3-day effect. Since then, David Strayer and his group at the University of Utah have conducted studies that measured a real change in our calmness and even our creative problem-solving after 3 or more days in Nature. As Ken Sanders said: “I think it takes the first two days and nights to wash away whatever veneer of civilization you have brought with you. The new reality begins on that third day.” More about the 3 day effect at National Geograhic: This is your brain on Nature and REI: The Nature Fix. No doubt similar things at work to the magic of forest bathing.…The 3-day effect is the name give to what happens to us after being out in Nature for 3 days or more. Something about it resets us and improves our mood, our wellbeing, and how well our brain is working. Observed by river rafting guide Ken Sanders who used to see a marked change in the groups he led on the 3rd day of being out on the river, it’s known as the 3-day effect. Since then, David Strayer and his group at the University of Utah have conducted studies that measured a real change in our calmness and even our creative problem-solving after 3 or more days in Nature. As Ken Sanders said: “I think it takes the first two days and nights to wash away whatever veneer of civilization you have brought with you. The new reality begins on that third day.” More about the 3 day effect at National Geograhic: This is your brain on Nature and REI: The Nature Fix. No doubt similar things at work to the magic of forest bathing.

11 May 2019

The 9 times table on your fingers

You may remember this little trick from school. If you’ve not seen it before, give it a quick try 🙂…

5 May 2019

The story spine

Kenn Adams’s story spine is a wonderfully simple and flexible backbone for creating or analysing stories. I learned it from Dan Klein at Stanford as a fun improvising game: standing in a circle each person in turn takes on the next step of the story spine making up what happens. You’ll effortlessly produce some fascinating and amusing stories. We would extend the middle section as many times as felt natural to lead to the climax. An optional extension to the original spine was to add a final step of stating the moral of the story. I have found the story spine very useful for coming up with on the spot bedtime stories. Also a fun game at the pub. Why not give it a try now? Like improv? You might like: the first rule of improv: accept offers the second rule of improv: be spontaneous the improv attitude Watch Dan Klein in action at TEDxReset 2014…Kenn Adams’s story spine is a wonderfully simple and flexible backbone for creating or analysing stories. I learned it from Dan Klein at Stanford as a fun improvising game: standing in a circle each person in turn takes on the next step of the story spine making up what happens. You’ll effortlessly produce some fascinating and amusing stories. We would extend the middle section as many times as felt natural to lead to the climax. An optional extension to the original spine was to add a final step of stating the moral of the story. I have found the story spine very useful for coming up with on the spot bedtime stories. Also a fun game at the pub. Why not give it a try now? Like improv? You might like: the first rule of improv: accept offers the second rule of improv: be spontaneous the improv attitude Watch Dan Klein in action at TEDxReset 2014

27 Apr 2019

The Egg Float Test

Together, and with the help of a small bowl of water, let’s save millions of perfectly good eggs from being thrown away using the egg float test. Egg shells are very slightly porous. Over time, air seeps into the shell making it lighter than it was, and, when it is old and no longer good to eat, it floats. Hence, the egg float test. Here's how to test your eggs. Carefully, place an egg into water taking care not to crack it, and watch. If the egg: …sinks to the bottom and sits on its side, then it’s fresh and good to eat. …sinks to the bottom but perches on its end, then it’s good to eat, but should be eaten soon — it’s been around long enough to get enough air in it to start lifting it off the bottom. …floats to the surface, then it’s old and likely no longer good to eat. Word is that it’s not a good idea to wash eggs well before you plan to use them as it removes a natural membrane coating on them called bloom that protects the eggs from bacteria. So best to only wash them when you’re ready to eat them. Now, does anyone know of an equivalent test for avocadoes?…Together, and with the help of a small bowl of water, let’s save millions of perfectly good eggs from being thrown away using the egg float test. Egg shells are very slightly porous. Over time, air seeps into the shell making it lighter than it was, and, when it is old and no longer good to eat, it floats. Hence, the egg float test. Here's how to test your eggs. Carefully, place an egg into water taking care not to crack it, and watch. If the egg: …sinks to the bottom and sits on its side, then it’s fresh and good to eat. …sinks to the bottom but perches on its end, then it’s good to eat, but should be eaten soon — it’s been around long enough to get enough air in it to start lifting it off the bottom. …floats to the surface, then it’s old and likely no longer good to eat. Word is that it’s not a good idea to wash eggs well before you plan to use them as it removes a natural membrane coating on them called bloom that protects the eggs from bacteria. So best to only wash them when you’re ready to eat them. Now, does anyone know of an equivalent test for avocadoes?

20 Apr 2019

Fruit vs vegetable

What's the difference between a fruit and a vegetable? There's that classic thing: tomatoes are really a fruit — well, a whole lot of other vegetables are technically fruit too. I do find this way of thinking of it helpful: Fruit — ovaries developed from the flowering parts containing seeds. They’re basically what grows where the flower was. Vegetable — other edible parts of a plant. So basically, anything else, with a handy list being: leaves, roots, stems and flowers. So this makes tons of other common vegetables actually fruit, including peas, avocadoes, cucumbers, eggplants, bell peppers and more. And corn and raspberries are still rather complicated. Also see: hedgehog a mango de-seed pomegranates the hungry gap freeze lemons and limes scoville scale what’s the difference between mandarins, clementines, satsumas and tangerines? open bananas like a monkey roll limes before squeezing cut an onion into teeny pieces advice to eat well…What's the difference between a fruit and a vegetable? There's that classic thing: tomatoes are really a fruit — well, a whole lot of other vegetables are technically fruit too. I do find this way of thinking of it helpful: Fruit — ovaries developed from the flowering parts containing seeds. They’re basically what grows where the flower was. Vegetable — other edible parts of a plant. So basically, anything else, with a handy list being: leaves, roots, stems and flowers. So this makes tons of other common vegetables actually fruit, including peas, avocadoes, cucumbers, eggplants, bell peppers and more. And corn and raspberries are still rather complicated. Also see: hedgehog a mango de-seed pomegranates the hungry gap freeze lemons and limes scoville scale what’s the difference between mandarins, clementines, satsumas and tangerines? open bananas like a monkey roll limes before squeezing cut an onion into teeny pieces advice to eat well

13 Apr 2019

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