Getting the job done?

We had a fascinating task during our introductory ‘kick off day’ at the University of Amsterdam. Approximately 1300 students from the business administration class of 2022, belonging to 60 different nationalities, were assigned into 12 smaller groups and briefed on how the course is structured.

We were assigned the marshmallow challenge as one of the warm up tasks -it involved splitting into smaller groups of four, and building a free standing structure made of (uncooked) spaghetti, employing string and tape, which should have a single marshmallow successfully planted on top. By free-standing, they meant that the structure cannot be made to stick to any surface, and should be well balanced. The tallest structure with its marshmallow at the highest point would be the winner. It was refreshing to see all six groups in my class come up with different ideas – and this is where things got interesting.

Four out of six attempted flimsy, single spaghetti structures of varying shapes to be the tallest. One of them had created a mini ‘Burj Khalifa’ by bunching all the spaghetti together. All these attempts couldn’t stand for more than a few seconds. The winners built a smart pyramid, with a couple of spaghetti stuck to the top, with a marshmallow stuck to the head. It stood steady and won the round, because they were able to do it in the given amount of time.

My team built a rectangular cuboid, that stood steady. The plan was to build one of these good boys as a platform, and build a narrower rectangular cuboid on top of this one, followed by a pyramid on top – imagine a mini Empire State Building – with a marshmallow crowning it. We ran out of time. However, our project stood strong, stood steady and was definitely scalable. It was robust, and built for the future.

The objective of the project was to build a tall structure, in the given amount of time. While my team built something really stable and useful, we did not fulfil one of the objectives. The winning team did not build a scalable long term solution, yet they got the job done.

Human mind has a way of approaching problems in a similar manner, with a certain characteristic thought pattern, that keeps popping up throughout. If we understand it, it can be nurtured and guided and developed. Throughout my work experience at four companies – Hammer and Mop, SILA, Eské and finally a brief consulting stint with CACTUS – my limitations have been regarding the gap between what needed to be ‘done’ and my methodology to take a long term view of the festering problem at hand.

It was enlightening to be presented with a hard (though simplistic) look at my own capabilities and their limitations as college starts again this summer. It serves as a reminder that if the customer/promoter requires the cake baked in a certain way within a certain amount time, trade-offs are crucial and alright.

(first published on Frankaffe)