The Art of Explanation

Where Problems—Challenges That Relate to Direction and How Things Fit Together

Why Problems—Challenges That Relate to Seeing the Big Picture

Agreement—Agreement builds confidence from the very first sentence. It is accomplished through big-picture statements that most people will recognize. These are ideas about which you can say something like, “We can all agree that gas prices are rising.”

According to Roam, you can classify any problem into six problem clusters: Who and what problems—challenges that relate to things, people, and roles How much problems—challenges that relate to measuring and counting When problems—challenges that relate to scheduling and timing

Packaging ideas is a simple process that requires the person presenting ideas to account for the audience's needs.

How Problems—Challenges That Relate to How Things Influence One Another

This simple example highlights another important idea in this book: context matters. Our ideas may be useful, actionable, and informative, but without context, they are limited. If they exist without a foundation or connection to other ideas, they are isolated, and that isolation limits their potential.

A map, compared with text, makes it easier to see and understand how a complex system fits together. It also has the potential to show roadblocks, dead ends, and relationships in a way that brings the big picture to life.

McCloud's point is that a face drawn with a high level of definition is more likely to look like a specific individual. A photograph is clearly a specific, unique person. But a face drawn in cartoon style removes that specificity.