Now that you’ve watched the PB&J Challenge (Exact Instructions) video, I’d like you to discuss it with each other. In your discussion consider the following (but you can bring up other points you see as relevant too):

1. What challenges does this video highlight about precision of language and communication?
2. How do you see this video relating to your Technical Description assignment?
3. Did this video change the way you view technical communication? Why or why not?

One of the challenges highlighted in this video was that the kids assumed that their father knew what they were thinking or what they meant when they wrote their instructions. When the dad would read one of the instructions literally, his son would often add in another detail that wasn’t being followed. This detail was often something in the son’s head that he assumed his dad already knew. This highlights a very frequent issue when it comes to miscommunication in general. This issue being someone’s intent being misread because they didn’t say what they meant clearly enough.

We are taking mundane everyday objects and explaining them in detail in this assignment. If someone were to ask me to describe what a pencil is, I would probably just tell them that it’s a tool that lets you write on paper. If they also asked how to use it, I would tell them that they need to sharpen it first, and then use the tip of it to write. My descriptions assume that the person I’m describing this to has a lot of prior knowledge. I’m assuming they know what a pencil sharpener is, what side of the pencil the tip is on, and how to use that tip to write words. This is similar to how the kids in this video assumed that their dad knew things like what side of the bread to spread jelly on and what side of the knife to use to scoop peanut butter. 

Even though the peanut butter sandwich experiment is an extreme example, it does change the way I see technical communication. The idea is that as we go through our school year and career paths, there will be some concepts that become as easy and obvious to us as making a peanut butter jelly sandwich. It’s important to remember, though, that we understand these concepts because we have a slew of common knowledge built up after taking many classes in the past. Most people outside of our professions don’t have the same academic background as we do. When there are miscommunications and misunderstandings, it can feel as frustrating as the little boy in the video feeling like his dad isn’t doing his instructions according to his own common sense. We need to take a step back and recognize any implicit assumptions we may have made when giving someone explicit instructions.