Train to learn.
How do you know when you really understand a subject? I always find that when I can explain a subject to a relative newcomer, and make them understand the material, I have a mastery of the subject.
Train to learn is a motto of mine, because if you have holes in your knowledge it will come to light when you have to stand in front of a group and train them. The “why’s” and “how’s” and “what-for’s” will come flying at you fast and furiously from the people you’re training.
We’ve grown the IT department at the company I work for and with a new addition to the team I thought it would be a good idea to do some system training on the ERP software package our company runs.
Normally it takes about a week to go through the “official” training on how to install the system from the software vendor, so there is a lot of material to cover. Sitting in front of the department, notes in hand, was a major test of what I understood and more importantly how well I could communicate it back.
The first day I spend training made me realize where my weaknesses in understanding the system were and where I needed to brush up myself. It also meant a week of going home and doing my own homework to get ready for each new training session.
Train to learn - in this case where you’re weaknesses are.
I’ve found that throughout my life this works. If I really need to understand some new material, when I sit down and explain it to someone else it really helps cement it in my own head.
Have you ever been working through a problem - maybe you couldn’t get something to work the way you expected - you called someone over to ask for their help and as soon as you started explaining what you were hung up on you had an “Oh Duh!” moment where you instantly realized what the problem was?
When these “Oh Duh!” moments happen many people feel silly for not catching on sooner, but you really shouldn’t feel this way. In the process of organizing your thoughts to explain the issue to someone else your brain managed to drop everything into place. That one funky variable that was eluding you became instantly obvious.
There is a technique that programmers use - and I’ve heard a ton of different names for it - where they describe a complex and confusing programming problem - in excruciating detail - to an inanimate object. It helps them achieve these “Oh Duh!” moments and solve their problems.
Why an inanimate object? Would you really want to have a programmer explain - in exacting detail - the problems they’re having connecting a database to a piece of middleware to talk to the shipping software via TCP/IP? If they talk to a stuffed animal, at least they’ll have a captive audience!
But it really does work - when you’re stuck try explaining your problem. Train to learn, and experience an “Oh Duh!” moment. It works even better if you can train a person, because then you’ll get immediate feedback on whether or not they understand what you’re training them.
Give it a try the next time you’re stuck, or the next time you want to see if you really understand some new material. When you train someone else you’ll immediately find your weak areas and you may even have a breakthrough and solve a problem that’s been bothering you!
Here are some related articles you might also enjoy!
March 8th, 2006
Entry Filed under: Development, Career, Creativity
4 Comments Add your own
1. Alexander Kjerulf | March 11th, 2006 at 9:09 am
I know this technique as Rubberducking and it has helped me a bunch of times,
Kathy Sierra over at Creating Pasionate Users tells this story:
A university help desk center kept a teddy bear, and before students were allowed to bring their problem to a human, they had to first explain it out loud to a teddy bear. The idea is that by the time they finished telling the bear, over half of them had solved their own problem.
2. Can You Become Good at Ev&hellip | March 19th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
[…] Now I must pass on the Indie Virus and help out those around me that have inspired or entertained me over the past 4 months. Since my blog is basically about all the stuff I am working towards accomplishing I am going to send the virus to several blogs spanning a few categories. First off I am going to send the virus to Sean at A Runner’s Blog. I enjoy following his training and results to keep me going through my own training. Next up I am sending the virus to Success Minders” who recently wrote a nice article about training to learn. Good posts for those of you trying to work on your personal development. Lastly I am sending the Indie Virus to Scott. He may not need the virus but I love his blog and his idea. For those of you who don’t know he is a guy that has been wearing a name tag every day of his life for quite some time now as a sort of social experiment. Always interesting to see what he is up to. […]
3. Jodee Bock | April 5th, 2006 at 11:21 pm
I think the teddy bear idea is fabulous! It reminds me of a training activity I use when I’m working on communication where the participants are divided into pairs (A & B) where A has to tell about a problem at work or at home, and B’s job is to answer only with questions (from a list I give them). The idea is that when the person with the problem is forced to keep explaining the problem, they usually come up with their own answers, which we already knew anyway.
I learn every day that I teach what I most need to learn … and by teaching it, I have the best shot at learning it myself. Thanks for the reminders - and the reinforcement!
4. Scott Young | May 6th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
There is something about the process of teaching that forces you to master the answers for yourself. As an instructor I often found that the areas I was the best at happened to be the ones I was teaching. If you have to teach it, you will master it.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed