That being said, is the convenience of the one-handed pour reason enough for the economic/ecological changes of minimizing surface area so that the box is more cube-like? I guess I am working from the assumption that people have two hands which isn’t necessarily the correct perspective. Furthermore, all cereal boxes have an inner, flexible plastic packaging that can be gripped with one hand…

Thanks for the comment.

Glad you’re getting some mileage out of that book. ;-) I’ll look forward to reading it at some point as well.

I think the excerpt you’ve shared speaks to more than just two divides. Though I ‘get’ where your head is at, I wonder if you might go a step further, or should I say “back.” In a recent post of yours, you recognized the importance of “asking the right question.” (And, we had some good off-blog discussion about that.) I wonder if maybe you ought to look at the question McDonald’s proposed: “When McDonald’s wanted to improve sales of its milkshakes, it hired researchers to figure out what characteristics its customers cared about.” Hmm. Most of the researchers assumed that solving the problem had to do with the product, and one guy stepped out of the box and using his observation skills (I’d like to call it “action research”) discovered the answer to the “question.” As I think about this, it makes me realize more than ever how important it is to get the question right. If we’re going to do problem-solving, then those doing the “work” (students) need to make sure they are asking the right questions–especially if the client (teacher) is perhaps too narrowly focused with the question they propose. (Inquiry learning needed?)

Another thing that struck me about this example, and I wonder how true this is in higher ed: Everyone but one guy forgot something pretty key-that there are multiple variables. As part of getting the question right, we’ve got to be sure we are asking about/identifying all the variables. Not linear algebra, but differential equation(s)?

Fun to think about.