Seth Godin recently posted a supposedly simple math quiz. He asked this question:
Let’s say your goal is to reduce gasoline consumption.
And let’s say there are only two kinds of cars in the world. Half of them are Suburbans that get 10 miles to the gallon and half are Priuses that get 50.
If we assume that all the cars drive the same number of miles, which would be a better investment:
- Get new tires for all the Suburbans and increase their mileage a bit to 13 miles per gallon.
- Replace all the Priuses and rewire them to get 100 miles per gallon (doubling their average!)
Most people assume the second option is the best (I did), but upgrading the SUVs saves more gas than upgrading the Priuses. Seth attributes the trouble people have with this problem to the idea that “we’re not wired for arithmetic.”
I don’t agree with him. You may have hated algebra, but this problem is taugh because of poor communication. The key detail here is the assumption that both cars drive the same number of miles. He buries this fact in the third paragraph in the middle of a sentence that starts with the weak phrase “if we assume.”
For us telecommuters communication is a vital skill. You may not be there to explain something like this to your boss or your team. Clear and simple communication makes a larger impact and saves a lot of time. We can make this problem much easier to understand with a few changes:
A group of people each drive 100 miles to work. Half of them drive SUVs and get 10 miles to the gallon. The other half drive a Prius and get 50 miles to the gallon.
We want to decrease the amount of gasoline consumed and we have two options:
- Purchase new tires for the SUVs and increase their gas mileage to 13 miles per gallon.
- Upgrade the Priuses to increase their gas mileage to 100 miles per gallon.
We only have enough funds for one option so which reduces gasoline consumption the most?
The second example explains what’s going on and makes everything much clearer. The upgrade to the SUVs saves 2.4 gallons of gas and the upgrade to the Priuses saves only one. The first option plainly uses less. The math is the same, but the presentation is different.
- No tricks The second example started by simply stating that each of them drive 100 miles to work.
- Real numbers Instead of saying the same number of miles the second example assigns a real value: 100 miles.
- Simple images Creating a diagram makes it easy for anyone to follow.
- Highlight differences The images in the second example uses different colors to show you what the real differences are.
- Added labels Clearly marking the options as one and two makes them easier to discuss.
- Tell a story The second example puts the numbers in the context of a real story. We’ve all driven to work so we can clearly picture it in our minds.
Improving your communication skills is one of the best ways to make yourself a more effective telecommuter. Make yourself easy to understand and your coworkers will want to talk to you.
