Pragmatic Thinking and Learning

Draw on the Right Side

I’ve claimed a number of times that we’re not using our R-mode facilities as well as we might. Well, we’re going to do a little experiment now to prove that and see how to deliberately get into a pure R-mode cognitive state.

I’ve given many talks across the United States and Europe based on the material that became this book. One of my favorite bits from the talks is a simple survey question I ask the audience: tell me how well you can draw. The results are always the same.

In a crowd of 100 technical types (programmers, testers, and managers), maybe one or two folks claim to be able to draw very well. Maybe another five to eight or so claim somewhat competent drawing skills but nothing suitable for framing. The vast ...