By Karen Takle Quinn, Ph.D.
Roam, Dan. The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. New York: Portfolio, 2007. (ISBN 978-1-59184-199-9)
Dan Roam is the founder and president of Digital Roam Inc., a management-consulting firm that helps business executives solve complex problems through visual thinking. His 2007 book, The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures, was published by Portfolio. Its goal is to teach readers how to solve problems with pictures using visual thinking. Every chapter supports and illustrates Roam’s central idea that "Visual thinking is an extraordinarily powerful way to solve problems and though it may appear to be something new, the fact is that we already know how to do it." (page 31). According to another visual thinking advocate, Robert E. Horn, words and pictures have been combined to improve human communication since the invention of written language. This was especially "notable in the culture of Ancient Egypt." (Horn, Visual Language, 1998, pp.25-26).
We all have problems when communicating with someone who does not speak or understand our language. Roam found that even when you learn to speak their language, as he did with Russian, visual thinking pictures are still especially useful when trying to share ideas with clients.
Roam assures the reader that the process of visual thinking is very simple and that most everyone already knows how to do every step in the process. On page 30, the reader finds suggestions from the author on how to get the most out of this book which has been organized into four major sections starting with "Part I: Introductions: Anytime, Anyone, Anywhere: Solving Problems with Pictures." In this section Roam defines which problems and what type of pictures are included in this volume. He also comments on who can best use these techniques. "Part II: Discovering Ideas: Looking Better, Seeing Sharper, Imagining Further: Tools and Rules for Good Visual Thinking" covers the foundations of good visual thinking, e.g. learning how to see more clearly and accurately as a way to extend the one’s imagination. "Part III: Developing Ideas: The Visual Thinking MBA: Putting Visual Thinking to Work" walks the reader step-by-step through a business case study in order to road test six fundamental frameworks. "Part IV: Selling Ideas: It's Showtime" illustrates how to pull everything together in order to create and deliver a sales pitch without technology or fancy expensive handouts while successfully selling your solution. Roam suggests that all that is needed is the client and whiteboard plus a lot of well-focused ideas. No handouts, computers or software, etc. are required.
In "Appendix A The Science of Visual Thinking," Roam reveals that a client told him about V. S. Ramachandran’s book Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind. This book provided the key to his understanding the complexities of vision pathways, which are the complex neurological routes that visual signals follow as they make their way from the eye to the visual cortex of the brain. "Appendix B: Resources for Visual Thinkers" also provides useful information.
This book offers a new way to look at problems to find solutions. What the reader takes away is that most problems ranging from simple to complex can be understood with pictures. The big plus comes from the potential of immediately applied solutions because the problems, the source causes and their potential solutions are visible thanks to visual thinking approaches.
Roam’s book is well worth your consideration because it is extremely well written in an easy-to-read style with lots of useful illustrations and documentation. If you want to dig deeper, Roam provides recommended sources including hardware and software applications for charts, maps, timelines, flowcharts, multivariable plots, etc. The volume is small enough in physical size to be convenient to read even while traveling. In fact, the author states that it was actually designed to be read it in the time it takes to fly from coast to coast.
References:
Horn, Robert E. Visual Language. Bainbridge Island, WA: MacroVU Inc., 1998.
V. S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee. Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind. New York: Harper Perennial, 1999.
Karen Takle Quinn, Ph.D. can be reached at [email protected]
©2008, Karen Takle Quinn, Ph.D.
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