The Back of the Napkin

Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
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Visual thinking is a whole new way of looking at and discussing businss. It is harnessing and applying our innate ability to use our eyes and our imagination to discover, develop and share ideas with others.

All of us are visual thinkers at heart. This is why sometimes, a simple drawing on the back of a piece of paper like a napkin can be more effective in visualizing the solution to some business problem than any Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint presentation could ever be.

Visual thinking works in business because:

By drawing something on paper, you can take a vague idea and clarify it for everyone involved in the discussion.

By keeping it simple–using just a paper and pen–you make the activity inclusive rather than exclusive, which means everyone’s ideas can get grafted in.

By drawing pictures, you can quickly and concisely help others see what you’re talking about. Pictures clarify, whereas words often confuse.

By using a picture to direct your thoughts, you don’t have to rely on any notes or a written script. You can focus on talking with other people and getting their ideas rather than on giving a formal presentation.

In all, visual thinking is a better way of looking at business problems and a new way to find interesting or innovative solutions.

The backbone of visual thinking is a very simple proess. It is composed of just four steps, and the beauty of these steps is that we already know how to do all of them. In fact, we’re so good at doing them that we don’t consciously think about them at all. But by calling attention to these steps and drawing out the distinctions between them, we can instantly improve our understanding of how visual thinking works. That’s it. Welcome to a whole new way of looking at business.

–Dan Roam