The

Marshmallow

Challenge

Tom Wujec
Autodesk
Monday, March 15, 2010

Peter Skillman

Monday, March 15, 2010

The

Challenge

20 sticks of spaghetti
Monday, March 15, 2010

+ one yard tape

one yard string + one marshmallow

Monday, March 15, 2010

Monday, March 15, 2010

Monday, March 15, 2010

Monday, March 15, 2010

Simple Activity

Deep Lessons
Monday, March 15, 2010

Lesson One:

Prototyping

Matters

Monday, March 15, 2010

Typical Progress

Monday, March 15, 2010

Typical Progress

Start

Monday, March 15, 2010

18

Minutes

18
Orient

Monday, March 15, 2010

Minutes

18
Orient

Monday, March 15, 2010

Plan

Minutes

18
Orient

Monday, March 15, 2010

Plan

Build

Minutes

18
Orient

Monday, March 15, 2010

Plan

Build

Ta-Da!

Minutes

18
Orient

Monday, March 15, 2010

Plan

Build

Oh-Oh!

Minutes

Who Consistently

Performs

Poorly?

Monday, March 15, 2010

Recent Business School Graduates

Monday, March 15, 2010

Who Consistently

Performs

Well?

Monday, March 15, 2010

Recent Kindergarten School Graduates

Monday, March 15, 2010

Why?
Monday, March 15, 2010

18
Orient

Monday, March 15, 2010

Plan

Build

Ta-Da!

Minutes

Business
Students

18
Orient

Monday, March 15, 2010

Plan

Build

Ta-Da!

Minutes

Business
Students

Kindergarten
Students

18
Orient

Monday, March 15, 2010

Plan

Build

Ta-Da!

Minutes

Prototype

Refine
Monday, March 15, 2010

Lesson Two:

Diverse

Skills
Matter
Monday, March 15, 2010

Monday, March 15, 2010

30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

Average

30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

Average

Business
School
Students

30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

Average

Business Lawyers
School
Students

30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

Average

Business Lawyers
School
Students

Kindergarten

30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

Average

Business Lawyers
School
Students

Kinder- Architects &

garten Engineers

30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

Average

Business Lawyers
School
Students

Kinder- Architects & CEOs

garten Engineers

30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

Average

Business Lawyers
School
Students

Kinder- Architects & CEOs

garten Engineers

CEOs &
Executive
Admins

30

Specialized Skills
+ Facilitation Skills
= Success

20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

Average

Business Lawyers
School
Students

Kinder- Architects & CEOs

garten Engineers

CEOs &
Executive
Admins

Lesson Three:

Incentives

Magnify
Outcomes
Monday, March 15, 2010

Average Team Performance

Monday, March 15, 2010

Average Team Performance

30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

10

Average Team Performance

30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

10

Average Team Performance

30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

10

High Stakes
30
AUTODESK INC.
111 McInnis Parkway
San Rafael, Californiax

20

$10,000 00

Marshmallow Challenge
PAY TO THE ORDER OF

TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS

10

IN THE AMOUNT OF

Authorization

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

10

High Stakes
30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

10

High Stakes
30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

10

High Stakes

Four

30

Months
Later ...

20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

10

Average Team Performance

30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

10

High Stakes - Informed Attempt

30
20
10
0

Height
(Inches)

Monday, March 15, 2010

10

Monday, March 15, 2010

Incentives

Monday, March 15, 2010

Low
Skills

Success

Incentives

Monday, March 15, 2010

Low
Skills

Success

Incentives

Success

Incentives

+ Skills =

High
Success

Monday, March 15, 2010

Low
Skills

Why Conduct the

Marshmallow

Challenge?

Monday, March 15, 2010

Help Teams Identify the

Marshmallow
in their Projects.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Monday, March 15, 2010

Shared

Experience

Monday, March 15, 2010

Shared

Experience
Common
Language
Monday, March 15, 2010

Shared

Experience
Common
Language
Prototyping &

Facilitation
Monday, March 15, 2010

MarshmallowChallenge.com
The

Marshmallow
Challenge
About the
Challenge
The marshmallow challenge
is a design collaboration
game intended to help teams
experience fundamental
dynamics of teamwork as
well as break the ice in
brainstorming and
collaboration sessions.

Monday, March 15, 2010

About

Host

Photos

Videos

Links

MarshmallowChallenge.com
The

Marshmallow
Challenge
Hosting a
Challenge
Running a marshmallow
challenge is easy. The
ingredients cost only a few
dollars and the time invested
is less than an hour.

About

Host

Photos

Videos

Step One: Find a Venue, Willing

Teams and Reasons.
Step Two:

Get the Ingredients.

Step Three: Set up the Environment.

Step Four: Equip the Tables.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Links

MarshmallowChallenge.com
The

Marshmallow
Challenge

Monday, March 15, 2010

About

Host

Photos

Videos

Links

MarshmallowChallenge.com
The

Marshmallow
Challenge

About

Host

Photos

Videos

Worlds Largest Marshmallow Challenge

800 People

Monday, March 15, 2010

Links

The

Marshmallow

Challenge

Monday, March 15, 2010