Common Craft Blog
Explainer Tip: Remember the Curse of Knowledge
By leelefever on August 11, 2009 - 2:33pm
The following post is a part of a series called "Explainer Tips" where we share lessons we've learned in crafting explanations.
One of the books that I read just before creating our first videos was Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. More than almost any other, this book helped me see new opportunities to present ideas in a unique way. One idea from the book really stands out - it's The Curse of Knowledge <insert scary music.>
We've all experienced it - in talking to a doctor, an engineer or academic, we get lost. Despite their best efforts, they explain a topic using words and examples that don't make sense to a beginner. These people are suffering from the Curse.
The idea behind the curse of knowledge is that the more we know about something, the harder it is for us to explain it to someone who knows nothing. We have a hard time being able to imagine what it's like not to know. For example, think about a lawyer who spent his life reading and writing legal documents, talking to lawyers all day every day, etc. When you ask this lawyer about tort reform, you're likely to get an explanation that confuses you more. This person knows too much to answer your question in a language you understand.
We're all guilty of having the curse. We all have something in our life that we know very well - perhaps too well to explain easily. The key is know that the curse exists. To be able to recognize the challenge before you. Here's how:
Consider every word. Sometimes a word that is completely natural to you can doom an explanation. For example, let's say you're a financial planner and you sit down with a young couple and they seem to get everything you're saying. Then you mention "amortization" as if it were any other word. You use it every day and the people around you do too. It may seem that amortization is perfectly normal. But it's not - their eyes glaze over and the explanation takes a turn for the worst. You have the curse.
The Remedy
Part of the problem with the curse of knowledge is that we assume too much. We make assumptions about what people do and don't know. The stronger the curse, the easier it is to assume. To get around the curse, you can either start with the basics, or get a feeling from your audience about what they know. Don't assume they speak your language or have your perspective. If explanation is your goal, impressing them with big words and details are going to work against you. Your time is better spent accounting for their level of understanding and their context.
Here's a great interview with the Heath brothers by Guy Kawasaki from 2007.
Next Up: Put the WHY Before the HOW
Amortization is a funny
Amortization is a funny example. I have nothing to do with the financial industry, but I use amortization all the time in my daily life, since right after high-school. I routinely throw it at friends and family, because it's such an important concept and I get the feeling they don't really know about it.
How things work...
People have difficulty explaining things from basics, sad but true.
They spend a lot of time and energy fitting in with the culture of an organisation/profession and they can manage at macro level or block diagram level or 'jargon' level, but when they have to explain something from very basic levels they simply don't know it. They manage in their work because they have learnt the jargon, they speak the jargon, so everyone thinks that they know what they are doing. The reality is that in most cases this is enough to get by. Being able to explain things free of jargon from first principles in a way that fits everyone's learning style takes time, thought and preparation and even testing
Now I know! =)
As I was browsing from the list of blog post here, this one truly caught my attention. Because I have lots of experiences about this curse of knowledge. Working as a full time Computer-related job lets me encounter different kinds of people with different levels of understanding in using a computer. There's a time that I've been giving solutions over the phone to an employee from the other department on how to back up her files. I continue explaining and instructing her on what she needs to do. However, she became more confused about the terms I used, so she invited me to visit her in the office. Sometimes I would prefer doing more technical stuffs than explaining it on how I've done it. =D
I also referred them to a site in which they can get a support if they encounter another problem. Phoenix computer repair
Well, Thank you for this interesting blog post. I'll definitely overcome this curse of knowledge so that I can provide a good customer service to my clients.
mauinick02
Well! it is true to a great extent that if you know something exceptionally well then it becomes quite difficult to make somebody understand about it ,who is entirely unaware about it; as you have achieved a point of saturation in that field and have a more clear concept but for the beginners it has to be like beginners...
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dai
Well, Thank you for this interesting blog post. I'll definitely overcome this curse of knowledge so that I can provide a good customer service to my clients.
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