I had the pleasure recently of seeing Dan Roam speak at a conference. Dan wrote Back of the Napkin – one of the many books on my long list of wanna-reads – and his basic concepts are that (a) the person or organization that can best described a problem is most likely to solve it (or at least get funded to try), and (b) you can draw the solution to just about any problem.

That got me to thinking a bit about what I’m up to here at Mission to Learn as I approach the end of my second year. Learning itself is not a “problem” – it’s a process that never ends. On the other hand, how to best blog about learning day-in-and-day-out in a way that is most meaningful to me and my very diverse reader base is, to say the least, a challenge. How do I chart the most fulfilling path into all there is to learn?
I don’t have an answer, and I have my doubts about ever being able to draw one on the back of a napkin. But I thought perhaps I’d start trying to articulate the problem – or, perhaps better, the challenging opportunity – a bit more clearly and see where that leads. If you have thoughts, I welcome them. In the meantime, I’m off to the store to buy some napkins.
Jeff Cobb
Mission to Learn
P.S. If you enjoy what you read here on Mission to Learn, I encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feed or use the e-mail subscription form at the top right side of this page.
No related posts.
posted on February 26, 2009
Other Mission to Learn Offerings
Thanks so much for reading the Mission to Learn blog. If you aren't already aware of them, we also encourage you to check out:
- The Learning Monitor e-newsletter
- The Radio Free Learning podcast
- Mission to Learn on Twitter
Also, we are always eager to hear from you about things you would like to see on Mission to Learn. Please contact us with any ideas or news you have, or find out about writing for Mission to Learn.



