EYN#045: Could You Use The WhoDunnit Approach?

Lots of people can get better at explaining complex things. They might overwhelm people, confuse people, and bore people. And that means their audience don't listen to or forget their message. I've definitely been guilty of this in the past and I imagine you have too.

But this approach will engage people, educate people and have the begging for the next instalment.

Imagine your favourite murder mystery - Sherlock Holmes, Knives Out, The Thursday Murder Club. Now think through the formula or framework most of them use. Normally it's something like this:

• Start with a murder.
• Make people care about solving it.
• Uncover secrets in a compelling way.
• Resolve the mystery.

Victor Farcic in EP38 of the Tech World Human Skills podcast talked about how this approach helps him explain really complicated tech. And he's got a leading YouTube channel with a gazillion views. So how can you use this? Well, when you need to explain something complicated use this approach

Start with a murder.

Someone needs to get murdered pretty quickly in a WhoDunnIt. We need to engage people pretty quickly.

Same with tech. We need to get to the "What" pretty quickly. What is the problem that this solves? What does this do? What is the solution?

We need to get to the main event quickly. The murder doesn't happen half way through the story.

Make people care about solving it.

But the murder is not enough on its own. People need to be invested in solving the murder. If people don't care about the victim, the murder or the situation they won't read the book or watch the movie.

In tech we need to make sure people care about the "Why". Why do people need to understand this technology? Why is uncovering the mysteries of this solution a valuable use of their time? Make them care about the technology.

Uncover secrets in a compelling way.

If people care about the victim and care about finding the killer then the game is afoot. They're motivated, they will invest their intellect and time in understanding how and why the murder happened. But the complexity of the crime needs to be appropriate for the audience. Too complicated and people will turn off or close the book. But too simple and they'll do the same. A WhoDunnIt for kids is different to one for adults.

Same in tech. You've managed to motivate people to give you their time. Now you need to explain it effectively and concisely and at the right level of detail. Use diagrams, analogies and a great structure to reveal the secrets of the solution that they need to know.

Resolve the mystery.

The story is resolved. The secrets are recapped to the audience. The murderer is apprehended and everything is brought together to give people closure.

In tech it's a great chance to summarise what you've said. Make sure people know what the solution is, why they care about the solution and have clarity on the details that they need.

Then finish with what to do next. Like the movie cut scene after the credits that that teases them with the next movie in the franchise.

So if you've got something complex to explain, use the WhoDunnIt model.

Hope this helps

Ben