CHRISTINE LIU: So we're going to talk about whiteboards.
They are like the office cliche, right?
You got staplers and copiers and whiteboards.
And it's just like productivity and brainstorming and exciting
stuff.
I think we can all agree that whiteboards,
whether it's real or virtual, they're helpful.
You can jot down notes.
You can sketch little things.
You can put up sticky notes.
But the more I thought about them,
the more I had questions, like, oh, maybe they
have this secret power.
There's a reason why they're everywhere.
Am I missing something?
Are we all missing something?
Turns out there is more to it.
Stick around if you want to see these tips in action.
Let's learn how to really use a whiteboard.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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JAKE KNAPP: Finally.
Finally, somebody wants to talk about whiteboards.
About time.
CHRISTINE LIU: That's Jake Knapp.
He invented the Design Sprint and he's
written Sprint and Make Time.
As a designer, he's thought a lot about tools and processes--
tools like whiteboards.
In your book Sprint, you write that whiteboards make you
smarter.
Can you unpack that?
JAKE KNAPP: The whiteboard is extra memory for us.
And it means that we don't have to just hold in our head
what the person said in the last sentence or two.
And we don't have to constantly try to convince our colleagues
or try to talk each other down or try to construct-- oh, God,
what's--
we don't have to necessarily be quite so
subject to recency bias and all these things.
We can see.
We can put things up there and extend our memory.
And in that way, it does absolutely make us smarter.
CHRISTINE LIU: Jake is a big, big fan of whiteboards.
What drives you bananas about how you see
some people use whiteboards?
JAKE KNAPP: The main thing is when people don't use them.
That's number one.
And it's so common that the whiteboard is either garbage,
like it's small or it's--
[CAT SCREECHING]
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
--is weird and you can still see what
people wrote before because it doesn't erase properly.
It's a weird material.
Or there's no whiteboard at all.
[HORROR MUSIC]
That's like saying, well, we're going to write software
and we don't have computers.
It's just-- it's insane.
CHRISTINE LIU: There's a blank canvas,
and you can do whatever you want.
But I think that freedom is a little anxiety-inducing.
Am I doing this right?
Am I putting stuff in the right places?
I need help.
I'm looking at this blank white screen,
and I'm just trying to figure out
what's the best way to start filling it out
in a structured way.
JAKE KNAPP: Imagine yourself at IKEA,
and you're looking at a shelving unit.
There are all these different components,
and you can figure out what shelves you want
and how many do I want.
Well, the whiteboard is sort of like that shelving unit.
And I'm going to build myself the shelves that I need,
and then I'll have a place to stick things when they come up
in the conversation.
I like to start off a bigger project meeting by figuring out
what the long term goal is.
So I might be writing "Long term goal."
Then I know that what's in this area here--
I'm going to draw this rectangle here,
and I want us to fill in what the long term goal is.
This is what we're all about.
This is what grounds us.
Similarly, I could copy this, move it down here,
and I could say, how are we going to-- how are
we going to measure that goal?
What are-- if we go out into the future
and we've achieved that goal, what will it look like?
What are the things that we could tangibly measure?
What about-- what about the risks?
I don't want to just talk about the things that could go well.
What are all the potential problems?
We've got now this new shelf for pessimism.
Another thing I really like to do
is to make a map of how does this work.
You might think of it as like, how does our system work?
CHRISTINE LIU: Jake also uses this technique which
I love called Note and Vote.
Basically, if you're in a meeting
and people are just trying to talk over each other or--
[CHATTER]
--here's my idea, here's my idea--
just pause.
Put on a timer.
Everyone quietly and independently
write down their ideas on sticky notes.
JAKE KNAPP: And then you use the whiteboard
to capture all of those things.
CHRISTINE LIU: At this point, hopefully
you already have someone you've designated as the decision
maker.
They take all of these votes into consideration
and make the final call.
Done.
Decision made.
Move on.
Might be tempted to use so many fancy things
on your whiteboard.
[HORROR MUSIC]
No.
Fight the urge.
You want to keep it super simple, boring.
The ideas are not boring.
The ideas are amazing and rich.
But everything else should be just supporting them.
JAKE KNAPP: Another thing that drives me nuts is
multicolored sticky notes.
[HORROR MUSIC]
CHRISTINE LIU: But they're so fun!
JAKE KNAPP: Well, they do look fun.
Your brain starts to try to figure out, why is this green
and why is this orange?
And you stop looking so much at the information.
So it's adding extra hurdles to jump over.
[WOMAN SCREAMING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHRISTINE LIU: Stick to one color of sticky note.
Jake really loves yellow.
And then, everything else is literally just
words, boxes, and arrows.
Nothing else.
Keep it simple.
So another question is, does it really
matter what type of whiteboard you use?
Well, sort of.
Let's talk about digital whiteboards.
What you're looking for is something that's
robust and reliable and responsive,
yet you want it to be easy enough
to use so anyone joining the meeting
can figure out things pretty fast.
And if you're going old school whiteboard, go big or go home.
[EXCITING MUSIC]
JAKE KNAPP: Like, you really want
as much surface area as possible if you're working
with people in real life.
Something like this sucks if it's like shape like this,
because you can only write a list of texts.
You can only make a PowerPoint slide.
CHRISTINE LIU: Yeah, Jake has opinions.
There's more.
JAKE KNAPP: Then they should be a landscape.
I'm all about plain yellow sticky notes.
And actually, the adhesive on the post-it brand ones
is too strong.
Yeah, and then you use Expo markers.
CHRISTINE LIU: We learned how to use a whiteboard
in better ways, which is great.
But I think the bigger takeaway here
is, why care about whiteboards?
And I think I got it.
It's because whiteboards are the tool
to use to prevent bad meetings.
Everybody's ideas are heard, not just the loudest people.
You have clarity.
Everyone's looking at a shared space,
so there's less room for miscommunication or error.
And then, wow, you have an action plan.
You're making decisions.
It's moving along.
You are getting things done, and I love that.
JAKE KNAPP: That core purpose of doing better work together,
it's actually quite noble.
In a way, we're joking.
I'm joking about it.
It's geeky and it's nerdy, and I know I'm way too into it.
But what could be more important?
We can't do amazing things without the help
of other people.
And we waste so much of our time just spinning our wheels
in meetings that are pointless, having pointless conversations.
These things are solvable, and it's a great, simple place
to start.
CHRISTINE LIU: If you're still watching, one, thank you.
But two, I'm really curious.
What do you want me to explore?
What problems do you have at work?
I'd love to solve them.
Please leave a comment.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
And if you have any other ideas, throw them my way.
All right.
Peace out.