The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
by: Dan Roam
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A bold new way to tackle tough business problemseven if you draw like a second grader
When Herb Kelleher was brainstorming about how to beat the traditional hub-and- spoke airlines, he grabbed a bar napkin and a pen. Three dots to represent Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Three arrows to show direct flights. Problem solved, and the picture made it easy to sell Southwest Airlines to investors and customers.
Used properly, a simple drawing on a humble napkin is more powerful than Excel or PowerPoint. It can help crystallize ideas, think outside the box, and communicate in a way that people simply get. In this book Dan Roam argues that everyone is born with a talent for visual thinking, even those who swear they cant draw.
Drawing on twenty years of visual problem solving combined with the recent discoveries of vision science, this book shows anyone how to clarify a problem or sell an idea by visually breaking it down using a simple set of visual thinking tools tools that take advantage of everyones innate ability to look, see, imagine, and show.
THE BACK OF THE NAPKIN proves that thinking with pictures can help anyone discover and develop new ideas, solve problems in unexpected ways, and dramatically improve their ability to share their insights. This book will help readers literally see the world in a new way.
A bold new way to tackle tough business problemseven if you draw like a second grader
When Herb Kelleher was brainstorming about how to beat the traditional hub-and- spoke airlines, he grabbed a bar napkin and a pen. Three dots to represent Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Three arrows to show direct flights. Problem solved, and the picture made it easy to sell Southwest Airlines to investors and customers.
Used properly, a simple drawing on a humble napkin is more powerful than Excel or PowerPoint. It can help crystallize ideas, think outside the box, and communicate in a way that people simply get. In this book Dan Roam argues that everyone is born with a talent for visual thinking, even those who swear they cant draw.
Drawing on twenty years of visual problem solving combined with the recent discoveries of vision science, this book shows anyone how to clarify a problem or sell an idea by visually breaking it down using a simple set of visual thinking tools tools that take advantage of everyones innate ability to look, see, imagine, and show.
THE BACK OF THE NAPKIN proves that thinking with pictures can help anyone discover and develop new ideas, solve problems in unexpected ways, and dramatically improve their ability to share their insights. This book will help readers literally see the world in a new way.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Great item, fast ship!
First Amazon purchase.Super please.Item is textbook for class and I got it really quick and in excellent condition.Thanks!
Rating: 
- Very Useful Skill
I've always admired people who can convey a complex message in a simple manner. This book shows how basic drawing skills can be used to illustrate complex concepts. And it succeeds.
It won't teach you how to be a cartoonist or fine artist. It will teach you how to use basic shapes to draw people and processes better.
The recent UPS commercials with the whiteboard are excellent examples of the ideas in this book.
I wish the author used more real examples rather ... Read More
Rating: 
- unconvincing, doesnt do what it preaches, boring
suggestions for the author:
1. since ur case is about communicating thru back of the napkin drawings and schemas, do so. seth godin's supportive commment on the back of the book was a hint, to u.
2. dont waste my time telling me how good the book or how great ur method is, how people that work w/ u think u r genius or how many big corporations have hired u; the reader doesnt care and didnt buy the book to read ur self-promotion, we never heard of u.
3. dont preach about the brain, ... Read More
Rating: - Challenges conventional thinking
Dan Roam shows how to take an immensely complicated problem, break it down into constituent parts, explain how things work, identify what is missing, and develop an elegant solution.
An important part of the process involves sketching pictures, because pictures can represent complex concepts and summarize vast sets of information in ways that are easy to see and understand.
Roam presents a case study of a software business facing declining sales. Across six chapters he applies ... Read More
Rating: - Where's the beef?
To me this seems all sizzle and no steak. The best part of the book is Appendix B which lists better books to read.
- Great item, fast ship!First Amazon purchase.Super please.Item is textbook for class and I got it really quick and in excellent condition.Thanks!
- Very Useful SkillI've always admired people who can convey a complex message in a simple manner. This book shows how basic drawing skills can be used to illustrate complex concepts. And it succeeds.
It won't teach you how to be a cartoonist or fine artist. It will teach you how to use basic shapes to draw people and processes better.
The recent UPS commercials with the whiteboard are excellent examples of the ideas in this book.
I wish the author used more real examples rather ... Read More
- unconvincing, doesnt do what it preaches, boringsuggestions for the author:
1. since ur case is about communicating thru back of the napkin drawings and schemas, do so. seth godin's supportive commment on the back of the book was a hint, to u.
2. dont waste my time telling me how good the book or how great ur method is, how people that work w/ u think u r genius or how many big corporations have hired u; the reader doesnt care and didnt buy the book to read ur self-promotion, we never heard of u.
3. dont preach about the brain, ... Read More
- Challenges conventional thinkingDan Roam shows how to take an immensely complicated problem, break it down into constituent parts, explain how things work, identify what is missing, and develop an elegant solution.
An important part of the process involves sketching pictures, because pictures can represent complex concepts and summarize vast sets of information in ways that are easy to see and understand.
Roam presents a case study of a software business facing declining sales. Across six chapters he applies ... Read More
- Where's the beef?To me this seems all sizzle and no steak. The best part of the book is Appendix B which lists better books to read.
