I attended a Lean Impact Workshop by Leanne Pittsford of Start Somewhere where we used the Javelin Board to practice the Lean method on a social impact project. 

Within an afternoon, we identified a problem with customers (as distinguished from problems without customers that are not as ideal for a lean business!), tested assumptions with customers and pitched a prototype idea with potential customers.  

The most valuable parts were: 

• thinking with a diverse group of people about how to apply the Lean method: who is the customer, what does the customer need, what is the riskiest assumption and determining what assumption to test 
• applying Leanne Pittsford's  method to build lean tests by getting clear on vision (belief), mission (what you want to do), strategies (how will you do it) and goals (specific what you want to do). 

I designed this Lean Workout by hacking exercises from Eugene Eric Kim's Changemaker Bootcamp Watercooler* and Leanne Pittsford's Lean for Social Good workshop. This Lean Workout was a prototype to see how these two approaches might complement each other in order to accelerate social impact.   

Renee Frissen (right) and I prototyped the Lean Workout with our social impact projects.  Renee founded a Netherlands-based social enterprise Social Tech and I kickstarted OpenQRS.  Erin Beitel (left), a rockstar Teach for America alum, budding digital diva and OpenQRS team member facilitated the Lean Workout.

Prototyping favors action over perfection. The goal is learning- even if it results in the "failure" of an idea. I learned about prototypes and human-centered design working on the product development team for two ehealth startups with David Karshmer who led IDEO's health care practice in the 90s. A rough prototype tested with real customers offers a rapid way to disprove bad ideas in order to get to great ideas faster. We tested every idea immediately with customers in order to iteratively design our product/service offerings.  The Lean method applies this rapid learning approach rigorously.  

I love the premise of Eugene Eric Kim's Changemaker Bootcamp: preparing for effective collaboration is akin to sports training and results from practice!  The Bootcamp workout model aligns with my sense of how to effectively build the capacity and skills for sustainable leadership, collaboration, and rigorous learning.  It struck me that the Bootcamp workout model might also lend itself well to learning-through-applying the Lean approach for social entrepreneurial problem solving.  

In the Lean for Social Good workshop, we didn't have a chance to apply the Lean method to our own initiatives.  I was curious to test how the approach would work if two social enterprise teams paired to work through the Lean method on their respective initiatives. My hypothesis was that having people external to one's project join in this thought process would yield better results, faster.  

1. How does the Lean method work when two companies pair up to apply Lean to their businesses
2. How does the Lean method work when applied to a social impact project?  What are the edge of its usefulness?  

• Many social impact projects have multiple customers (those that pay and those that benefit may or may not be the same).  How does that alter the model? 
  
• Lean is predicated on an environment where risk is possible and failure can be afforded.  Many social impact projects are risk averse due to funding concerns and/or sensitive issues.  How does this culture difference influence the application of lean in these organizations/contexts?

After a quick check in, we did some workouts on our respective projects. 

{Workout #1 Check In: presence, shared understanding}

I shared the OpenQRS story then presented the vision (belief), mission (what you want to do), strategies (how will you do it) and goals (specific what you want to do). 

{Workout #2 Listening: presentation skills; listening}

We adapted the 100 Question Workout from the Changemaker Bootcamp.  15 minutes of rapid fire question generation. One question per post it.   The questions revealed the gaps in storytelling, surfaced assumptions, forced clarity and generated new thinking about the project. 

Then, we clustered the questions into themes. OpenQRS will use these questions as prompts for blog posts next month. 

{Workout #3 Asking Generative Questions: listening, synthesizing, critical and creative thinking}

We ended with a Q&A to get answers needed for feedback to refine the vision, mission, strategies and goals. Then we switched projects and we did a repeat of the same workout for Renee's.  


{Workout #4 Dialogue: listening, synthesizing, responding in real time}

While it was still fresh, we put Renee's project through the Javelin Board.  We discovered that her multi-prong approach to move forward meant that she had multiple potential customers.  A common feature of social impact projects is that the beneficiary is not always the same person who pays. Both are customers. Teasing out the different potential customers to determine a lean test was a great learning process. 

{Workout #5 Javelin: clarifying, refining, designing tests, getting out of the building, talking with customers}

Consistent with the Changemaker Bootcamp model that emphasizes these skills benefit from regular practice. Renee and I will continue our Lean Workouts in weekly check ins.  

Here is our weekly Lean Workout Agenda:
Check In 
1. My greatest success/win from last week:
2. My priority for the week is _____
3. My most inspiring moment last week was ______
4. Here's what I'm struggling with ______
5. _______ is on my 1 month horizon 
6. _______ is on my 3-6 month horizon 
7. Lean test from last week report back
8. Lean test for this week
9. (optional) My topic for 15 min brainstorm/open issue discussion

If requested, clarifying questions & reflections. 
Listener jots notes for the speaker.  
Repeat.

• The 100 Question Workout was a high yield activity and a highlight of the day. (Thanks Eugene for sharing it and Changemaker Bootcamp Alum Eugene Chan for telling me about it!)
• An external partner in this process surfaces assumptions and forces the implicit to be explicit
• Helping the other enterprise provides the opportunity for great insights on one's own project even when the businesses are completely different!
• A 3rd party process facilitator keeps the flow and provides a fresh perspective

Ideas for Future Iterations: 

• Add a 5 minute reflective discussion just after the pitch. The listeners "sensemake" what they heard immediately after the pitch. The speaker listens to how the listeners understood the project: the way they talk about it, what words stuck, what things were unclear and learn from the gaps, questions, interpretations. (Renee's suggestion- great idea!)
• Prompt participants to maintain a "cross learning" notebook/paper to jot down reflections for their project as they work on the other project.  Alternatively, build 3 min reflection breaks after each workout to capture ideas/lateral thinking from working on your own/the other project. 

• Clarified use of the Javelin Board
• Identified the multiple customers for a social impact project
• Trimmed the project to its bare essentials to an MVP that can be tested iteratively
• Surfaced critical riskiest assumptions that narrowed the focus for MVP testing

Here is our full agenda including our notes from the Lean for Social Good Summit (These are unedited and may include Dutch and English).

Grateful to Eugene and Leanne who inspired this Lean Workout!  For more in depth resources, please follow up with Leanne Pittsford of Start Somewhere and Eugene Eric Kim of the Changemaker Bootcamp and Faster than 20. 

*Disclaimer: I've not participated in the Changemaker Bootcamp. These activities reflect my interpretations of exercises from the Changemaker Bootcamp Watercooler.  

Have you done something similar?  I would love to hear your thoughts on this approach.

On August 19th, Knight Foundation launched its latest Knight News Challenge, an open contest to win part of $2.2M for funding a project that responded to this health challenge: How can we harness data and information for the health of communities? 

This challenge presented the perfect catalyst to turn the idea shared in my TEDx: Integrity by Design from April 2013 at TEDxBarcelonaChange into a funded initiative. An enthusiastic team formed, and we submitted a proposal: OpenQRS: Open Source Tools to assure the Quality, Reliability and Safety of Health Care Devices on September 17th along with 650 other proposals!! 

We are humbled and excited by the enthusiasm since our submission posted.  The "applaud" and comments on the platform, tweets and FB posts, have been overwhelming.  Within a week, we have over 1000 views for our project. The Knight News Challenge reviewed the entries, and selected 39 semi-finalists. 

On a late dash from Manhattan to Newark, I checked my email every moment that I could ... on the train, on the tram, in the security line... awaiting the email announcing semi-finalists.  Nothing, nothing, nothing.  On the plane, one last look before powering down for the 5 hour flight to San Francisco. I checked again.  Nothing. I sent a text to a friend "We haven't heard anything from Knight yet.  It'll be a long 5 hrs."  I refreshed and found this message:

 \o/  We made it to the semifinals! With one week to refine our proposal, we got busy preparing this 30 second video and responses to their questions and  to feedback we had received from people.  On October 2nd, we submitted our refined proposal.  It's been an incredible journey, and we are excited to build on this momentum! 
 
Please check out our submission: bit.ly/openqrs  We welcome feedback to strengthen the proposal!  

We welcome feedback to strengthen the proposal,
please contact us at www.openqrs.org or @OpenQRS 

We are grateful to the Knight Foundation for this exciting opportunity to share our proposal publicly.  Generally, funding applications to foundations are internal, closed processes. Open contests like the Knight News Challenge fuel the democratization of ideas (enabling small projects or new initiatives the chance to be seen not only by the foundation but also by others), democratization of participation (allowing applications from an open pool of applicants rather than just "people in the know") and democratization of philanthropy (providing opportunities for others to discover and contribute to projects in ways beyond monetary).  Most importantly, they provide participants with an opportunity to find collaborators, contributors and additional funders; thereby, making the investment to participate in the challenge beneficial to the initiative regardless of whether they win the "purse."  

Open contests have critics. Valid concerns include that the voting system will be gamed by special interests or that the public may not have sufficient understanding of the issue to determine feasibility.  Knight News Challenge balances opening the door for new, small and under-resourced initiatives at the outset with a rigorous due diligence process informed by experts during the final phase.  This approach affords fresh ideas a chance to be discovered while only funding initiatives that demonstrate a responsible use of philanthropic investment.  Knight Foundation's leadership in "Open Contests" provides a framework for philanthropy to engage collaboratively with the public to identify and develop solutions to pressing social issues. 

We were thrilled to participate in the Knight News Challenge and 
we are grateful for the tremendous interest, support and enthusiasm!  

UPDATE: October 17: Although we were not selected as finalists, we are thrilled, grateful and enthusiastic about our experience with this open contest.  Following posting the project, OpenQRS gained two new phenomenal advisors for our project, Benjamin Stokes, co-founder of Games for Change and Rachel DeSain, Lead Consultant of Flaxworks specializing in emerging technology for health IT.  


A snapshot of our success from the Knight News Challenge:  in one month, we received over 2300 views of the project and 65 applause!  We are excited about interest from appropriate technology device makers and we will be hosting prototype QRSLab game sessions with these product teams over the next two months.  Stay tuned at www.openqrs.org and thanks for your support and interest! 

On April 3, 2013, I gave my first TEDx: Integrity by Design at TEDxBarcelonaChange: Positive Disruption in Global Health
part of TEDxChange sponsored by the Gates Foundation

Join us as we build integrity by design to positively disrupt global health: http://www.integritybydesign.org

It was a humbling and brilliant experience. I am grateful to the #TEDxBarcelona team who hosted an outstanding, fun event and to my fellow TEDx speakers who inspired everyone! (Full speaker line up here: http://ow.ly/kAldv )

Thanks to our outstanding organizers Aurelie Salvaire Perrine Musset Johanna, rockstar coach Florian Mueck & the #TEDxBarcelonaChange team!  Very special thanks for ubuntu from my community whose contributions were invaluable. 

Have you ever experienced the confusion or frustration of having someone else define your identity for you?  Well, Global Culture Kids is a playground for you. 

Vision 
a playground for global culture kids! 
a place to play, learn, celebrate, explore...
a place to champion the awesome work by global culture kids!
... and whatever else emerges... 


It might unfold to look like a digital version of this... 

Some ideas could be....
Sandbox for community building sandcastles... 
Slides to champion projects by GCKs...
Swings to see a gallery of GCK work and projects... 
Teeter-totter for tips...
Picnic tables for parties ... 
......

The domain is bought... www.globalculturekids.org  ... would be great to get a real graphic artist on the team early, right?!  Who's on board to build a playground? 

Attribution this idea is a lifetime in the making, with countless people along the way who touched, inspired, healed and shared the journey... special shout out to my grandpa, Peter Maker, Eduardo Gonzalez, E Nathaniel Gates, Rhonda Magee, Marnie Keator, Sheila McKibben, Megumi Nishikura and the Hafu Film Project team, Edward Harren, Daniela Franchi, the poc community, the Plum Village community & Clarissa/Reika & the Hapa-Hafu Kitchen Project crew....  special kudos to awesomeness amplifier and web designer Morgan Sully for the nudge to action on this initiative. 

After an afternoon visit with the fabulous Game Designer Marigo Raftopoulos, we cross-pollinated ideas at the intersection of games, fun and ethics... and identified this challenge: 

Awareness
Genuine
Integrity
Leadership
Excellence
Trustworthiness
Humility
Interdependence
Collaboration
Service

.... have other ideas for what guiding "principles" might apply? 

Step 1: Proposed Model Equation + Optional Equation Elements
Step 2: Player Modifies the Equation 
Step 3: Modifications reveal scenarios
Step 4: Player sets Equation
Step 5: Results 
Step 6: Loop back/Follow up for feedback & evolving equations (leave room for second and third thoughts...)

As I begin a series of posts that "report" from an 18 month learning journey, I wonder: are there tools for structuring the output from a learning journey?

Each learning journey seems tailored to the participant(s) and designed for specific purposes.  Wouldn't it be awesome if there were a commons toolbox for designing learning journeyers.  With templates of designs previously used for various purposes that could be recycled, reused and repurposed depending upon one's journey objectives.  This template DIY approach enables an emergent curriculum while integrating robust design that would confer credibility on the learning journey. 

As traditional education is challenged to address a rapidly changing landscape of skills and competencies for 21st Century living and as we see an increasing need to learn and hone new skills/abilities at a rapid pace, the learning journey and alternative curricular approaches are increasing.  I have two friends who are currently fundraising for learning journeys.  Weezie Yancey-Siegel of The Eduventurist Project is fundraising on IndiGoGo and knowmad Edward Harran for Please Help Me Get to San Francisco Pretty Please.  They are both inspiring, passionate social entrepreneurs. 

Here are my experiences with alternative learning and some of the approaches that I took to share my learnings.  

In 2005, I also endeavored on an independent study to deepen my foundation in ethics, conflict resolution and sustainable leadership.  The learning was self-defined, and many of the skills learned were life skills for communication, conflict resolution and leadership yet the tools to assess the learning, competence, fluency with these vital skills was absent.  In 2008, I wrote three papers to accompany talks on the findings and ideas that emerged from that inquiry.  The paper have depth but I did not pursue publishing them in any traditional manner. They are available on my blog: Passive Participation in Conflict, Mind the Gaps and Capacity Building for Inclusive Problem Solving: I + U HALT injustice.

For my recent learning journey, I will write blog posts with the hope that smaller digestible concepts will invite more interaction around the insights and ideas. I may eventually merge the posts together into short topic briefing papers. I have seen others approach independent learning by posting their research proposal, promising to share their reflections and experiences as blog posts along the way, and asking their community to serve as the "dissertation" review board of their blog posts. I opted for offering a reflective, synthesized view of the learnings, but in the moment posts might have yielded more of the discussion and refining of ideas that I have sought.  Perhaps, next time, I'll use a hybrid approach. 

{Idea} Designing a basic toolkit for the self-directed learner could be an invaluable resource.  Design it with corporate HR people who approve the product as credible for a new hire and whose companies would use it for existing employees' professional development for a sustainable revenue source to support a commons toolbox of DIY resources.  

The ideal learning journey toolbox would allow for:

• self directed curriculum
• emergent serendipity
• accountability 
• credibility/review  

What else would you want to see in it?  What have you used for your learning journeys?  

If you know about resources, please tell me.  I would very much like to have a more rigorous approach to emergent learning!  I have a hunch that I will be taking a deep dive into new subjects every couple of years as a life learner.

In early 2010, wondering whether there might be a way to bring together my work in health care ethics consultation-mediation with my prior love working in product/service design for e-health ventures (social enterprises before there was a social enterprise sector), I attended Unite for Sight's annual Global Health & Innovation Conference- a fantastic event overflowing with passionate social entrepreneurs doing great work around the world. 

Three questions emerged for deeper exploration:

1. Observation: Multi-stakeholder partnerships will be an increasing necessity to realize desired social impact.  In traditional corporate partnerships, there are lawyers advocating for their respective clients' interests when a partnership is established.  In non-profits, I surmised that failed partnerships meant an abrupt refocus and loss of the impact, since the use of donations for a lawsuit would not align with many non-profit's impact-focused missions.  

Idea: A partnership builder for multi-stakeholder partnerships for social impact would mediate the negotiation among the stakeholders to optimize the interest of the partnership.  The role of a partnership builder would be as advocate and nurturer of the partnership; the partnership builder would check in with the stakeholders to early troubleshoot any potential challenges and at the point of inevitable crisis, the partnership builder would mediate among the stakeholders to facilitate action and resolve disputes. With sufficient experience, a centralized resource, like creative commons for partnerships could be created, where DIY resources tools would exist for people to build their own multi-stakeholder partnerships.  This preventative conflict resolution approach benefits all stakeholders and enhances the likelihood of achieving the desired impact, and would most likely be deemed a worthwhile investment by a funder- whose interest is to see the partnership goals realized. 

Question(s): Would the stakeholders be interested in availing themselves of such a resource if it existed?  What sort of problems, if any, are any of these stakeholders already experiencing? Would it be possible to develop a niche practice for partnership builders?  What tools, skills, capacities would need to be developed to scale and democratize the practice?


2. Observations: In business every decision has implications.  Working at the intersection of meaning and money, the implications of business decisions often involve the targeted social impact.  

Question: Would there be an opportunity to laterally apply some of the relevant tools and learning of health care ethics (clinical and organizational) consultation-mediation in the context of the social enterprise sector? What are the relevant similarities and differences? Is the social enterprise market open and curious to receive this kind of resource or not?  


3. Observation: A large amount of impact investing money is being targeted at the "bottom of the pyramid."  Following the microfinance scandals, we know that sometimes these investor initiatives are not concerned about the interests of the poor.  New health care products and services are being deployed in areas where there are no existing regulatory frameworks to protect the human interests generally, and the vulnerable specifically.  

Question: Would there be an opportunity to work with social entrepreneurs who have health care products and services being deployed in developing markets where there are no regulatory frameworks?  How might we develop robust means to protect the human interests while not stifling innovation? How can people be empowered in the process of gaining access to health care products and services?


I spent 18 months on a learning journey to explore these questions.  The curriculum was emergent.  I determined the course as I went along, followed serendipity and learning opportunities.  I embarked on collaborations with people that persisted, some that failed.  I joined networks, worked on projects and hacked conditions to enable learning.  The learnings, ideas generated, connections made, unexpected discoveries and opportunities identified have iterated in conversations.  Now, I am making them concrete; I will synthesize my learnings from this deep dive inquiry into a series of posts with the aim that the report out encourages others to explore, stimulates discussion and inspires action.  

The topics explored cover multiple disciplines- some may be more or less relevant for the primary focus on this social enterprise focused blog. The timing coincides this month with an invitation and challenge from Steve Hopkins of the Squiggly Line- create a post for 30 days. Steve is one of the insightful, spunky people I met on the journey.  He is making the world epic! Follow him on Twitter (@stevehopkins) and to follow others writing for this challenge, check out  #b03 on Twitter. 


#b03 [Day 1]

What if contacts, such as those stored in one's email, linked in or iCal/Outlook, were captured around relatedness?  

Who? 
When/where did you meet? 
When/where did you last meet? 
What are key conversation points to remember for next time?   
What are your connections?  (professional, personal, revolutions, passion, volunteer, issues, mutual friends, family, etc)

What are keywords to associate with this person?
What are his/her touchpoints (usual contact data)

Click to drop in relevant work information from linked in and personal info from FB.

The reason is that it could make connecting people much easier.  Imagine that I have lunch with Doug, who has a new project. I want to introduce Doug to Christine as a potential collaborator.  I could click on Doug's name, where we met, relevant work experience, a couple of keywords, preferred contact info and click on Christine, where we met, relevant work experience, a couple of keywords, preferred contact info.  Add one sentence and they would receive information about each other based on my relationship with each of them that would provide context to the introduction as well as each other's contact information.

I would call this app "Contaxt" It could be fun to make the business of contact info as much fun as meeting the people!  

This post is one in a series of posts that document pilot/prototype projects with the format 5 things that I wish someone had told me before I started in <5% of the time spent on the project.  This post also provides some context around the project, since it was a cornerstone project for me in the second half of 2011. 

In June 2011, Edward Harran and I embarkeded on a 6 month experiment. A deep dive collaboration across the Pacific Ocean. Eddie in Queensland. Kate in San Francisco.  Part mastermind for our personal projects and consulting gigs, part virtual praxis of a future of work digital innovation lab for a globally distributed team and part incubator of ideas. We set off to explore. 

Macroscope, coined by Eddie, reflects the "big picture" - multi/inter-disciplinary, systems perspective that we endeavored to sensemake in our lab.  Mindful. Playful. Creative. Engaged. Curious.  The aim was to make complex simple.  To bring big together with narrow in the sacred space of creative possibility between.  To transform the experience of chaos and mess into something sublime. Ultimately, we wanted to build a place to play with our creative potential and to hold a space that would allow the value of the spaces in between to emerge, unfold, expand...  with a macroscope perspective to unleash the potential for social impact.... and we wanted to live mindfully and productively working in a digitally-mediated global context.

In 6 months, we cogenerated amazing ideas that continue to live in us- expressed from time to time in posts and projects.  We honed a vision for Macroscope Labs* (mL) from future of work ideas, such as the world's first Center for the Emerging _____  and a research proposal to pilot and analyze the innovation value of an Ecosystem Diplomatic Corps (Ecosystem Diplomats explained)... to systems issues that we frame-worked* such as Macroscope Playhouse and Macroscope Compass... to finding a home base for our shared personal narratives as "context chameleons"* and knowmads.  

Eddie brought the knowmads idea fully to life from concept to a brilliant presentation delivered at TEDxBrisbane.  It was an epic achievement and an ideal culmination of our journey together in the Macroscope Labs experiment.

• No one will understand what you are doing.  (They'll think you are nuts.) You may not understand what you are doing. (You may wonder if you are crazy)  When it's over, no one, including yourself, will understand what you did or why it mattered. And yet, it is most important that you do it.  Experiments are our learning way into the future. You will learn and the people you work/play with will learn. However, don't expect anyone in the current world of work to understand and/or to value your skills from an experiment about the future of work- now that is nuts!  

          Take home: Don't let the present judge the future.  Let the future judge the past. 

• While the future is full of possibility, we still live in the present. A lot can happen with alternative, complementary and gift currencies/economies, yet one needs money to live in the present.  TimeBank, for example, still needs about 30% of the value they generate in dollars in order to fund their own operations.  Think about yourself as the TimeBank, make sure that you have enough to cover your basic survival needs in the present before embarking on the future.  Future-focused projects take time to build traction and attract the kind of funding that they need to sustain themselves on an ongoing basis.  Long enough for the present to catch up with that future horizon on which you are operating.  As with any new business, there is a period of time until you have a steady cash flow; likely wise, with a new technology, one has to be adequately prepared to "cross the chasm," the period of time between when an small pocket of early adopters discover and endorse the product until it grows to a steady early market of mainstream users. Think of future-focused projects as both a new business and a new technology and prepare accordingly. Bring extra reserves to cross the chasm between you and the Oasis, it may be like crossing the Sahara.... and that's fun as long as you are prepared!

          Take home: Feet in the present, eye on the future... and mind the Chasm!

• If you know that you want to leave signposts for others, be sure to have a documentation strategy.  If you want to make things beautiful, be sure to have a designer on your team.  If you want to do things quick and dirty, know how to explain the vision simply and to scaffold the context accessibly, because people may not 'get' the messy version.  If the goals that you have don't align with the skills that you have on the team, then shift the goals to play to the strengths of your team or get the skills. Alignment on this is mission critical. My hunch: skill set for the future worker will be radically different; people will need to know how to communicate simply and effectively in writing, code and drawing. 

          Take home: Know your audience and get the right team- diverse skills sets with varying pockets of depth, 
           what you don't know, you learn rapidly, and eager to do what needs to be done for the project's success. 
 

• Before you start and along the way, identify a means for you to demonstrate what you learned, what skills you developed, what learning you gained.  When a job/role does not fit in the present, it is hard for people in the present to understand how to interpret what was undertaken.  Some ideas on how to approach that are outlined in a 5*5 Systematic Approach to move from Idea to Pilot and from 5 years ago, I posted a seed {idea post} for the BeWell, WorkWell tool for soft skills development. More recently, a seed {idea post} for a learning journey tool, which would enable people to identify and demonstrate soft skill learning under emergent conditions. 

          Take home: Prepare to document what you are learning at the outset.  Remember to do it along the way! 

• On the journey to the future, other people will emerge around you who seem to be doing the same thing.  Celebrate that! Celebrate them!  Team up. When possible an open knowledge framework enables you to engage more people and grow more rapidly.  Share your learnings. If they don't want to play, then let it go and celebrate them anyway!  It will take many people trying, many times in order for one team to break through the wall of the present.  Be happy that you are one of those pushing the wall, and be confident that whether you are that one or not, your initiative contributes to launching a new direction.  Those who rise quickly, do so by standing on the shoulders of those who came before.  There are always those who came before.  Find them and learn from them.   Most 'lauded' inventors didn't actually invent what they are known for, they made an vital improvement that took the invention to a new level of market accessibility.  

          Take home: Celebrate others! Open source everything possible. Seek out those who preceded and learn from them.

• Never underestimate the power of in person

*We had all of these domain names.  My registrations glitched on the renew, and so they are released- all available. Go do something interesting and build on our ideas.  Give us a shout out when you do so that we can amplify your work! 

Thought contributors:  With immense gratitude to and for Eddie Harran,  my brilliant collaborator, awesome ideas instigator, cherished friend, mindful mate and hapatwin.  Thanks to David Hood and the Gathering '11 energy for pulling Eddie and me to Melbourne where we sealed the deal on mL. Never underestimate the power of in person. 

What if the writing community created a resource like 99designs but for stories?

People who need a story for their project or product could submit the proposal.  It would send the proposal to writers until a couple of people accepted the "challenge."  The user would get to choose among the stories provided.  There is a huge writing community over at 750words.com and 99designs.com already has the technical architecture.

I wonder if in the future, people will curate their own Couture stores of favorite things.  Imagine if each person created a "couture" store of stuff they like... It might work like this:

Sasha, a busy mom of 2, has just discovered an instant organic Vietnamese brown rice noodle soup that is a life-saver when she needs a quick dinner after a busy day; it's healthy and the kids love the noodles.  In the past, she would tell friends that she runs into, but now she can take her superfan evangelism for Happy Pho to a new level and places it in the food section of her Couture store, where she also features her favorite baby shower gift- a baby blanket set from Ambajam.  Much like the easy "do-it-yourself" features of Weebly (this is a weebly site), Sasha creates a stylized design for the Couture store of favorite things a bit like ebay, except Sasha doesn't have to fulfill any of the orders.  Orders are fulfilled via the business directly.  In this case, Ambajam (a web-based business located in Denver) fulfills its own orders and Happy Pho (available in Whole Foods in person, or online via Amazon) would be fulfilled by Amazon. 

Sasha might be looking to upgrade the kitchen and knows that Suki, an interior decorator friend, has great taste and a gorgeous kitchen. Sasha starts by going to Suki's Couture shop to see what Suki recommended in home furnishings. When Sasha makes a purchase, Suki gets credited with superfan evangelist points for the referral. Sasha benefits from Suki's advice without interrupting Suki's work flow and by generating referral credit for Suki, Sasha honors the value of Suki's expertise.  Referrers receive credit points for a referral and a referral into sale.

And when Frank goes to his Couture interface to find a baby shower gift for an office worker, he searches baby shower gifts and Sasha's Ambajam recommendation pops up because Sasha and two other people in his extended network recommended it. When he clicks on the link, Sasha and the others get credited with the referral.  The search returns items prioritized by the frequency of recommendations within Frank's extended community and collective referrers receive credit.  

Benefits for Everyone
This Couture model allows businesses that benefit from superfan evangelists to identify and engage with their superfans.  Most superfans evangelize from passion, not for monetary gain, but the companies receiving referrals benefit from this marketing.  Most of the "shopping for good" sites sign on big businesses, but this system would be design to make it easy for smaller businesses to access and engage in the referral marketplace.  Businesses could develop relationships with their superfans with previews, discounts, and love for spreading the love.  (Fascinating blog post on how Zynga does iterative design testing with superfans)  The Couture system charges a small fee to the business for access to the referral platform (like Open table for restaurants) and the Couture system passes a % of its profit back to the superfan as points for charitable donation (Credo model). 

Ecosystem Purchasing
The ranking of recommendations is based upon collective referrals. While actual dollars paid for referrals would penalize the referrers of great business by diluting their percentage and/or costing the most recommended businesses a lot of money. This model gives everyone who successfully refers a credit.  The business donates a percentage (33%) of its profit to charitable ventures that get distributed based upon the ranking of its referrer community. (Credo Model) 

A key factor of this platform which distinguishes it from past platforms builds on our knowledge that people are more likely to change a behavior when other around them are adopting the behavior; this includes purchasing what others in their social circle are purchasing.  So, this platform builds on an individual's existing social network as an ecosystem that support purchasing, then takes the profit from that purchase and reinvests/distributes it back to the collective community.  It's a different angle on the Groupon and leverages access to referral markets for small business whether they are local or remote. 

I see this as a mashup that includes the Couture store with a 3D interface of Second Life, an application for small businesses that like Open Table allows easy access to customers and the referral system, the community/network access, the insight of LinkedIn/Facebook/Twitter with the unique trackback & stat capabilities of Hootsuite and the community good distribution model of CREDOMobile.  No one said, creating the architecture that facilitates doing some good would be simple or easy, but it sure could be a lot of fun to make it easy for people to do more good! 

This idea sprang from a series of articles that I stumbled across in the last week couple of weeks- including Beth Kanter's graphic on how non-profits can leverage social media (the Superfan Evangelist concept) + a Slate article on the Death of the Salesman (the internet as the disintermediator of the "salesman" in the US) + a report on a recent MIT study about social media and public health behavior change that could be applied to purchasing behavior. 

If you know someone in this space already, do tell!  What do you think?

*These are not paid advertisements, but I am a superfan evangelist of these products- enjoy!

Imagine if when you were commenting, you had the ability to nest your comment within a conceptual mind map.  This technology would allow one to "build on the ideas of others" rather than just cut it down.

Idea inspired when responding to Q on the TED survey regarding "point system for ranking comments"

My comment: Sometimes, challenging views can be important for real innovation but often people who like a perspective/idea become closed to questioning voices/views, how does the point system accommodate diverse perspectives and support potentially conflicting views?  It seems that points create a competitive rank environment that can be rapidly polarized rather than a collaborative, dynamic, expanding space - why not create a technology that allows for mind mapping comments, to allow building on the ideas of others - within mapped concepts, ranking comments might be helpful, but developing an innovative system for responding that builds on the dynamic of TED seems like the opportunity here?

What do you think?

Personal Reflection 

1. Engaging Change
2. Gaps of Culture
3. Gaps of Geo-Political-Socio-Economics (GPSE)     
4. Gaps of Systems
5. Gaps of Power Perspective
6. Mind the Gaps: Applied to Individual
7. Mind the Gaps: Applied to Institutional/Systems Issue
8. Mind the Gaps: Conclusion

Originally posted on Planet Well blog and posted on NetSquared Mashup 2.0 Competition 2007

Live Well
What is the Idea?

Elders and the rapidly aging within the nation will receive the connection to resources and support that they need in a manner that enables them to Live Well independently within the community and supported by the community.

Live Well is a platform that will enable individuals and those who support them to meet their ongoing needs through a community network and that harnesses the potential of technology to integrate their support within the communities in which they live.


What will change in the world because this project happened?

As care delivery is increasing pushed out of acute care facilities, as people are able to live longer with the assistance of chronic care treatments, and as the population ages, there is a need to improve access to social services for social services professionals, family/caregivers, and the individuals who need external support to Live Well in the community.

We aspire to promote people's independence and ability to live in the least restrictive environment possible. When adequate resources don't exist, people require "placement" into places where their needs can be met. A huge gap exists in the availability of place as well for people who do not require such restrictive measures, yet still need assistance to meet their daily needs. At this juncture, our country lacks the infrastructure capacity to "care" for people "in facilities," which necessitates developing means to support people who require assistance to Live Well in the community.

Live Well will provide a technology platform to fill the capacity gap in a democratized way while supporting our deepest aspirations for promoting liberty to all and the pursuit of happiness throughout all stages of life.


What information will people interact with to make this change?

Live Well will create a virtual nexus for connecting social services with the public in a dynamic way and will enable actual meeting of needs for people who require assistance.

e.g. Mrs. Jane Hammond, an 87 year old widow, lives alone and is assisted by neighbors. A neighbor creates a Live Well profile for "Mrs. J" and the profile enables the neighbor to see what social services exist for Mrs. J's needs within her city. The profile also links into programs like "neighborhoods" on facebook. The neighbor is able to indicate on the profile that Mrs. J needs some cat food, that request pushes to the "neighborhoods" application and another person who lives within a few blocks but doesn't know Mrs. J is going to the pet store and picks up cat food for Mrs. J. As, well the neighbor indicates that Mrs. J needs a quart of milk. A young professional stops at the grocery store en route home and using his iPhone checks local grocery store needs from Live Well, his grandparents use it in Ohio and he isn't there so helps other folks out locally. Finding Mrs. J's request under "grocery needs in your area," he picks up an extra quart of milk and drops it by her house on the way home. Reimbursement can integrated with a credit/debit network established directly to the stores and integrated to interface with Medi-aid and Medi-care. Community service effort may be credited to the individuals through a "time bank" system and/or employer recognition for companies that encourage participation by their employees as "in kind" donations.

Live Well uses technology to facilitate meeting social support both through virtual connections and "live" connections. Live Well disrupts and innovates the way we live in and think about our "communities" by creating a platform that bridges the virtual community world and integrates it with our residential community, that bridges the communities of needs with the resources for benefits, and that brings people together across boundaries to care for our community wellness.

While this is local in the sense of meeting needs peculiar to the way of western development, transience, and independence, as more people become geographically mobile and the displacement of people from larger family structure trickles into the developing world as the unintended (untold) cost of industrialization and 'economic opportunity,' the development of this kind of platform will be universally applicable.

What else have you done in this cause area?

This is an area that is ripe to grow. There is a real need for harnessing technology to meet the needs of those already aged, most importantly for those entering into this group. I am involved in bioethics, mediation, elder care plan facilitation and elder ethics issues, and I am particularly focused on the needs and concerns of marginalized populations.

I worked under the leadership of an ex-IDEO health innovation startegist and product designer as part of the product development team at ePatients.com, a web 1.0 company that sought to create products and services for patients and their families in the acute and post-acute care setting. Following the implosion of that company (not due to the product/fundability), the product development team co-founded a venture to support patient adherence in the chronic care market through user-focused design of a web-based platform, but the market bust at that time made funding impossible although people "got" the value and concept, the profits margins weren't big enough and the SE world only in its nascent stages focused primarily on education.

At this juncture, I envision this application could be developed as a stand alone or integrated into a portfolio of another company.

What inspired you?

An awareness that we are only as strong as the weakest among us and that though in the West, we fear aging, it is simply another process in the beautiful mystery of life. If we continue to deny it and fail to make the resources available to make this time of life one of possibility, the only people we fail are ourselves. I also see the grave economic disparities between our life in the West and those in other countries, and the influence of outsourcing and industrialization means that we are exporting an economic system that breaks down the social structure of those countries. It is my hope that if we can learn from those communities how to care for people within our own community and potentially reduce the export of practices that result in the transaction costs of destroyed social networks and/or to use technology to innovate the way we address this problem that exists increasing also in China and other countries.


What do you need at this juncture?

- Funders for initial development through Pilot
- Developers to realize a beta version
- People committed to harnessing technology and resources to meet local community needs as the first step in promoting the global wellness







Live Well by
Planet Well is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

The elements behind the living well app, see previous detailed post.