Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Recent Read

Simple: Conquering the Crisis of Complexity
Alan B Siegel and Irene Etzkorn


Some disjointed thoughts/notes:
  • Having empathy, striving for clarity, and distilling message can reduce distance between student and teacher, and save time! 
  • Simplicity gives students competitive advantage -- should be a student right (just as it should be a consumer right) 

The problem with complexity…
  • Credit card contracts, phone bills, medicine instructions, taxes 
  • No one cares, no one reads them. 

Simplistic vs. Simplified: strive for the latter, not the former
  • Understand what is essential and meaningful, opposed to what is not, then ruthlessly eliminate what isn’t. 
  • Simplicity allows students to understand and control what affects them → Student-centered learning. 

Fight back against “learned helplessness”!
  • When someone has several experiences of being confused, that person starts assuming they’ll never be able the understand any legal document, so why bother trying. → Quintessential problem in math class?! 

Three Principles of Simplicity
  1. Empathize 
  2. Distill 
  3. Clarity 
Empathize: perceive others’ needs and expectations (plan ahead)

Distill: Boil down and customize what’s being offered to meet needs

Clarify: make the offering easier to understand, use, and benefit


Favorite Simplicity Case Studies:
Trader Joe’s: Increases revenue because items sell faster, easier to restock. Customers dig simplicity!

OXO: They are very lesson-inquiry-esque. Observing people in their homes to determine what products are most needed/useful

Target: CLearRX

NYC bureaucracy → 311

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