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 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. 

This post is one in a series of 5<5 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.   

Cereal conversations was a 5 week pilot project to convene legal practitioners and strategy consultants at the intersection of law and business in the social enterprise sector.   

Background

In March 2011, I ran a HubLab on "For Profit or Not-for-Profit" with Inder Comer, Esq. at HubSOMA.  Intended for social entrepreneurs, the HubLab was also attended by lawyers, who often advised clients through this decision nexus.  Intrigued by this "unexpected" participant group, I kickstarted a "pilot" of breakfast conversations.  "Cereal conversations" gave legal practitioners at this nexus of law and enterprise for social impact a forum to discuss practice experiences and concerns.  Social enterprise law is largely unchartered legal terrain- full of "open" legal issues, which means that a court has not yet 'ruled' to decide the "law" on many issues that are emerging from social innovation.  Legal questions about liability and tax implications in the sharing economy, regulation of food production for microenterprise, employment status and compensation for passion equity, etc.  Typically, good legal advice steers a client away from uncertainty in favor of what is known, what is certain, and what is "settled" in the law.  Uncertainty is risky and potentially very expensive.  However, until people- clients and lawyers- push the edges of "certainty" into these open, untested areas- the status quo in business will not change.  

Cereal conversations brought practitioners together for peer learning and aimed to build a community of legal practitioners who want to push the edges of the law.  Drawing on a model from clinical medicine where clinicians make decisions even amidst uncertain outcomes based upon a bioethical, principled justification, I opined that perhaps a similar values-driven approach to decision making could govern and guide legal practitioners, provided that the involved parties gave fully informed consent to the risks.  My assumption was that if we built a community and developed a shared knowledge base, it would be sufficient to support legal practitioners ready to take this risky step to shift the status quo in how business operates.  My hope was to identify the key 'ingredients' necessary to seed a local legal community pf practice, to design a DIY 'cookbook' that other communities could use to kickstart local chapters globally, and to build a 'recipe' braintrust to which local practice groups could contribute that would inspire innovation in legal practices at the intersection of business for social impact. 

5 Things I Wish I Knew About Community Building Before I Started:

• 8am is too early for a meeting in San Francisco
• Building a community takes time.  5 times just gets things started.
• Meetings need to take place regularly.  To get work done- weekly is effective, to build community- monthly is sufficient. 
• Get a small group to share the organizing responsibility (2-3 is enough)
• For niche communities, keep the audience focused in order to maximize value to early participants. Here, it was more productive to have a majority of lawyers with only legally savvy strategy consultants, rather than a meeting with social entrepreneurs who seek information for their specific venture. 

Ultimately, cereal conversations was a prototype of a potential model.  It was a pilot test of assumptions.  The Bay Area group was the inaugural "Lucky Charms" group who pioneered the (ad)venture.  We learned a lot and we hope that the fruits of that learning shared here will strengthen the global community of legal practitioners active in this area. 

Why did we do it?

• To develop a community of practice to strengthen practice in the legal grey areas of this sector.
• To develop a format that provided value to satisfy the depth needed by legal eagles and practicality for social entrepreneurs
  
• To strengthen the social enterprise community's access to new paradigm approaches by engaging the legal community in conversations with social entrepreneurs, impact investors and business consultants.
• To kickstart a grassroots community generated knowledge commons on these emerging legal issues.
• To create a forum for collaboration and knowledge sharing among legal practitioners

Methods

What did we do?
A breakfast club to "Map the Terrain" and build an initial community of legal practitioners. In this 5 week pilot, we met over cereal for conversations to map the legal landscape at the intersection of business and social impact.  The topics that we covered included: the business judgment rule, new CA corporate forms, mapping issues, social enterprise partnerships, and alternative dispute resolution and conflict management in the socent sector.

Our short term aim was to have one concrete, practical project from each pilot.  Proposed projects included:  

• a model "founders/partnership agreement" for social entrepreneurs 
• a map/quick guide to identify how/when social impact focus may generate new/different legal issues
• a tactical considerations guide for the varying corporate forms
  
• an article on the role of ADR in social enterprise

Our long term aim was two-fold:
1. To develop a cookbook "how to start a SocEntStrategy community of practice in __(your area)__" 
2. To develop a grassroots, knowledge commons on these issues at the intersection of law, business and social impact

Our core commitment that all resources developed will be provided open access under a creative commons: attribution/non-commercial/share alike.  Any revenue generated from this initiative would be reinvested in the initiative's educational mission.

Who participated?
An open invitation was made to colleagues in this sector. We were generously hosted by HubSOMA. The SocEntStrategy Founding Alliance included:
Kate Michi Ettinger, Chef Converger of Cereal Conversations
Natalia Thurston, Social Venture Law Group 
Tony Lai, Law Gives
Inder Comar, Comar Law
Lina Constantinovici, President, Biomimicry Incubator


How? 
Doors open 7:45 (security can take awhile)
8 - 9 Legal Eagles Hour
30 min: in depth on legal topic + case presentation
20 min: discussion
10 min: map discussion and networking

9 - 9:30 Law for SocEnts
15 min: legal topic presented for Social Entrepreneurs
15 min: discussion

Results

• Of open invitation to 10 people directly and 10 people indirectly, we had a founding group of 5 people.  
  
• We met consistently for 5 weeks.  
  
• We shared knowledge, practice experience and developed a shared understanding of open issues within the sector.
  
• We identified opportunities for collaboration within the group; those collaborations continue to manifest.
  
• We experimented with and learned about technology that could support the group's work.  
• For details: Weekly Posts: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5  (currently in publication)

Learnings & Opportunities

1. There is a need for a community of practice among legal practitioners in this area.
2. The social enterprise ecosystem will benefit from having the legal community that serves it strengthened.
3. Building a community of practice takes time. Consistency is critical.  
4. Critical mass generates movement.  Self organization may be overrated. 
5. Engage one community at a time.  Clarity of purpose helps to respond to the diverse needs of why people show up.  If targeting lawyers, stick with lawyers to keep the focus on issues that yield value to attendees. 
6. Use the work products of the primary community to engage secondary communities.  
7. Choose technology that you can manage or have access to tech resources to administer the technology you want. 
8. 8am is too early for many people and does not accomodate the geographic diversity of SF Bay Area, where traffic prohibits participation by practitioners not in the specific location. 
9. Ideas take awhile to seed: People are ready now for an idea from 2 years ago that was prototyped 1 year ago.  
10. Business law and corporate structures are domestic/state law issues.  This invites a creative glocal solution to building this grassroots community. 
11. The effort to bring Cereal Conversations to Berlin resulted in identifying of a different doorway into the legal issues: case studies of pioneering social enterprises.  These case studies provide a simple framework through which to identify the open issues and to respond with how each could be addressed within one's jurisdiction.  These "Cases" become a common ground of understanding between geographic regions governed by different laws.  We are working to inspire the passion of the university students in law to explore social enterprise and business for social impact. 
12. The effort to bring Cereal Conversations to London/UK resulted in the idea of a legal "briefhack," by the brilliant Polina Hristova. The IDEA: One weekend at Hubs around the world. Gather local law students, attorneys and social entrepreneurs.  Have students interview social entrepreneurs to identify legal issues at the edges.  Students confer with social enterprise attorneys who review the cases collectively in a panel format.  The law students then "brief" the legal issues raised by the social enterprises.  The net result is law students have the "brief" as a work product to show future employers.  The social entrepreneurs have an understanding of the issues they need to address.  The attorneys deepen their practice around these open issues and contribute to building a the glocal knowledge base.   

Long Term Outcomes 

• Impact Law Forum, co-founded by Natalia Thurston of Social Venture Law Group and Zoe Hunton of Hunton Law, hosts a monthly meeting with speakers to strengthen the community of legal practitioners who work at the intersection of law and social enterprise. ILF rotates around the Bay Area.  

This post is one in a series of 5<5 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.   

Background

Mission-driven and double/triple bottom lines demands accountability to multiple stakeholders.  Even with the best intentions and planning, most situations that one encounters in business cannot be predicted.  Doing "business" at the intersection of money and meaning requires navigating uncertainty and making tough decisions in complex conditions. 

SocEntEthics provides a framework to navigate these kinds of decisions by adopting an analogous approach to clinical medicine.  In medicine, physicians and clinical teams often face difficult decisions that require balancing benefits and harms, reconciling patient preferences and clinical options, and determining how best to proceed amidst uncertain outcomes.  Bioethical frameworks guide clinicians in navigating these difficult situations.  SocEntEthics empowers social entrepreneurs to create values-based frameworks and strategies to navigate uncertainties, to take effective action in complex situations and to negotiate values conflicts. 

Key Learnings

1. Finding leaders who have insight that good intentions may not be sufficient to navigate the uncertainty and value-laden decisions at the nexus of money and meaning is rare.  
2. It is JUICY when you meet someone who has the courage to build a vision of robust principled decision making into the operations of the enterprise/product from the outset! 
3. Selling "certifications" makes it easy for enterprises to justify budget allocation for this kind of capacity building and peer/social pressure may drive adoption that creates a viable market for the "certification" product.  Duly noted that the viable business here may not transform how decisions are made and/or cultivate the capacity to make deliberate decisions-- so buyers and sellers should be aware whether they are opting for an approach that satisfies "compliance" and "checklist" needs or whether they are baking change into the core of their operations.  
4. Waiting until integration of an ethics-driven framework is recognized as "necessary" may be too late.  A social mission enterprise that adopts a principled approach after things go wrong and/or after well into operations will have to fully integrate this approach throughout its operations and will need both bottom up engagement and top down commitment.  The effort and investment to rebuild trust and reformulate culture may be challenging and significant at this stage.
5. Open source methods and strategies provide a template and idea source, but every enterprise is unique with its own culture and benefits from building its own values-driven framework that suits its operations. 
6. At some point, when working through the "values" that underpin a socially-driven enterprise, there is a murky phase in the process.  It feels uncomfortable and nebulous.  People who like to "execute" get antsy.  This is a good time to take a break.  Normalize the inclination for "action" and "outcomes" and underscore the importance for the group to sit in the messiness of this uncertainty.  Go out for dinner, have drinks, take a walk, go on an outing to a museum. Tell people that it's normal to feel unresolved. Actually, it's essential. 

SocEntEthics Applied:

• Operations: Policy Advisory Board

A social enterprise recognized the importance of this issue for its pioneering venture from prior to launch.  A policy advisory board was formed to support the team navigate these "tough" decisions.  The policy advisory board included multi-disciplinary professionals who represented the diverse stakeholders and constituents of the enterprise.  All policy advisory board reports and methods will be shared with open source/cc license. (currently in publication)

• Operations: Conflict Management for Coworking Space

A social enterprise encountered challenging at a growth stage.  The enterprise chose to build a principled approach to conflict management into its operations. The team developed a set of principles to govern community engagement and invested in capacity building for staff and interns.  The methods and training resources will be shared under creative commons license. (currently in publication)


Original posts from Posterous at www.socentethics.com when this idea was initially launched can be found consolidated here. 

One of my favorite prototypes from the Macroscope Labs was a tool to organize all of the "activities" one engages in the workplace of the future.  Play. Projects. Ideas. Prototypes. Work. Creative.  The distinctions blur. 

Macroscope Labs Playhouse
~ producing the future, one play at a time ~

We tossed around the idea that Macroscope Labs would be a theatrical playhouse.  In our mL playhouse,  ideas and projects that we incubated would come to life similar to a play.  Each play has a particular stage of development (from open mike to post production).  Much like a summerstock playhouse, our role might vary on each play, from scriptwriter to actor to set designer to costumer to producer- depending upon what was needed to get the job done or to grow our learning edge.  Each activity requires something different and invites an unique blend of creative collaborators. 

7 steps:

     1.  Inventory ALL of your projects 
                  - one idea/project per post it
                  - sub-projects for one job = separate post-its
                  - suggestion: color code by theme or by paid/unpaid

     2. Organize the post-its according to the stage of development
                  - follow the stages noted above, I sometimes include an off broadway (between off-off and main stage)


     3. Notice where there is a high concentration of post-its 
                    - the distribution will help you see where you are spending time and energy 
                    - is this distribution congruent with your current needs or are you currently stressed
                    - if self-employed on project work, do you have an appropriate distribution of paid idea/projects
                    - if you have a lead role in more than 2-3 projects on the main stage, you might need a cardio stress test  

     4. Identify what is your role on the projects
                  - is it your idea? are you rallying the team?  are you a first follower? are you the broadcaster? 
                  - does the role play to your strengths? are you on your learning edge?
                  - how does the team on this project feel for you?

     5. Notice your roles
                  - are they always the same? do you feel more energized in some than others?
                  - are you building your craft/skills in each of the different roles?
                  - who do you want to be your mentor for each role?  

    6. Identify all of your current collaborators (cast & crew)
                  - put each by the respective project and identify their role on the project                 
                  - are all of the roles that need to be filled to complete the project full?
                  - is the team well aligned to deliver based on their skill strengths?
                  - what skills do you need to complement your role/skills to get this project to fly?
                  - where can you find people who are smarter than you are at this? do you know them already? 

     7. Fail often, early. Learn. Dive in or move ON!
                  - what is the next action step?  Put that onto whatever project software you use. i like wunderlist and asana*
                  - identify an end point for each stage, so that you know... when to stop and assess? 
                  - check out my 5*5 method posts for a systematic approach to move from idea incubation to explore/pilot 

Attract the Best Cast & Crew .... and enable excellence in their performance

• Hire people who are smarter than you are
• Communicate the vision 

               - on stage, that is a script & blocking,** what does your idea need?

• Allow the vision to live in dialogue with the creative genius of the team
• Trust the team to do their magic (you hired people who are smarter than you are)

IN ACTION: how it looks on the wall.  

You can create your own paper version for your wall.  A digital version,as below, is available for download as well.  You can play with this digital version in powerpoint: import the .png, create text boxes for each of your projects, lasso/copy the people and group each person with a name and move it around until it works for you.  If you have photoshop, it'll be even easier. 

Most of all, have fun! 

*these are two services that i have used and liked. i have no financial, professional or personal connection to either company. people are very particular about their project management software, enjoy whatever one works best for you to get things done!

** Ingmar Bergman and Creative Leadership by Bo Gyllenpalm, the most influential book I read in 2011. (apologies, I know that it is out of print and have asked Bo to consider republishing it as I find it more relevant than ever).

Dedicated to all those on the journey to be the change through creative lifestyle design, particularly the lovely Joep Kuijper,  Seb Paquet on a 100 day journey into creative economy and Jean Russell, life explorer of creative engagement.  May your project management always allow room for passionate play, creative inspiration and hacking!  

Thought Contributors: Idea developed in collaboration with the enchanting creative  Eddie Harran at a time when I was fascinated by Bo Gyllenpalm's book on the stage leadership of creative director, Ingmar Bergman: what better role model than someone who pulled career best performances from cast/crew night after night for years and imagine, he never returned to the theater after the curtain went up on opening night.).  The creative innovator and the person who turned me onto the power of Mastermind ever-inspiring Do More Great Work guru Michael Bungay Stanier of Box of Crayons.  Digital to wall/post-its thanks to the effervescent creative Loretta Rae. 

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. 

This series of posts introduce a 5*5 systematic approach to pilot/prototype projects.  

From Idea to Pilot: A 5x5 Approach

From Pilot to Reflection: A 5=5 Method

From Reflection to Report: A 5<5 Report


 Keep an eye out for the 5*5 icon to find posts on pilot/prototype projects on this blog.

Attribution: this approach reflects a mashup from brilliant mentoring, modeling, discussions with many people... including Bruce Ettinger, Nancy Dubler, E. Nathaniel Gates, David Karshmer, Rachel Remen, Edward Harran, Andrew Lyon, Ian Page, and many more.

Snapshot: Systematic Approach to Pilots
 From Idea to Pilot: A 5x5 Approach [1 of 3]
 From Pilot to Reflection: A 5=5 Method [2 of 3]

I like to "do,"  which generally takes an action learning form described previously, From Idea to Pilot. By the time I learn through a pilot, it grows into something, pivots or gets abandoned under the ethos of fail often, early.  Whichever direction, I stop for reflective learning as described, From Pilot to Reflection, but rarely stop to write up what I learned because a new opportunity for learning already beckons. 

If you have seen previous efforts to document learnings... something akin to tomes turned blah-blah posts, it may be clear why I resist the report stage.  That said, I have experimented with an iterative design in hacking life and on the off chance, that might accelerate someone else's journey, it seems worthwhile.  So this month, I challenge myself to a new report format.  Simple. Short. Sweet. and whenever possible visual.    

The "report" formula will be a 5<5*:  

Keep an eye out for the 5*5 icon to find pilot/prototype posts. 





*Thanks to Ian Page for the idea for the 5<5 report format. 

Snapshot: Systematic Approach to Pilots
From Idea to Pilot: A 5x5 Approach [1 of 3]
From Reflection to Report: A 5<5 Report [3 of 3]

When a pilot reaches a juncture... for recommit, pivot or abandon.  Here is a method that I use for learning and reflection.

1. Brainstorm 

• Brainstorm 5 successes 
• Brainstorm 5 failures
  
• For each, what was one personal ingredient that contributed to that success/failure
  
• For each, what was one external variable that contributed to that success/failure
  
• For each, what is one thing to experiment with differently next time
  

2. What surprised me?
3. What touched me?
4. How is my understanding different?
5. Based on the experience, what question will I ask before I start next time?
 
I find that the list of successes/failures tends to be longer on one side than the other and that difference can help determine whether to recommit, pivot or abandon. 

The = symbol is a reminder that the reflection happens twice.  Once through the 5 questions related to the pilot/prototype project and a second time round for the personal/professional development.


Attribution: this approach reflects a mashup from brilliant mentoring, modeling, discussions with many people... including Bruce Ettinger, Nancy Dubler, E. Nathaniel Gates, David Karshmer, Rachel Remen, Steve Rosenberg, Andrew Lyon, Edward Harran and many more.

What questions do you ask for reflective learning?

Snapshot: Systematic Approach to Pilots
From Pilot to Reflection: A 5=5 Method [2 of 3]
From Reflection to Report: A 5<5 Report [3 of 3] 

A pilot design needs to match the project.  Each project is unique. When prototyping ideas in small projects is that there is no common design structure to report what was tried, whether it worked, learnings from failures, how a next step was tinkered and final learnings.  We do, observe, reflect, iterate, do... and it turns into something concrete or we move on. 

Here is a 5x5 approach to move from idea to pilot/prototype:

Attribution: this approach reflects a mashup from brilliant mentoring, modeling, discussions with many people... including Bruce Ettinger, Nancy Dubler, E. Nathaniel Gates, David Karshmer, Rachel Remen, Edward Harran, Andrew Lyon, Ian Page, and many more.

Over the past few years, I started many blogs.  Each had an unique focus, different purpose and varying communities. 

Key learnings: 

• Blogs are like gardens; they require tending if you want them to flourish.
• Generate short posts.  
• Post at consistent time intervals so that readers/visitors know what to expect.  Here is a rough guide: daily or at least one post every 4-6 days (build following), 2 weeks (create community), once a month (stay connected) or once in awhile (personal). 
• Be on the channel of your desired audience.  Share your blog post on Twitter/FB/G+ with an interest/location hashtags to reach new people. Requiring people to get out of their regular routine to engage decreases likelihood of engagement.  
• Engage others and build a community to coproduce a blog is ideal to keep content fresh, dynamic, diverse, frequent.
• If you want people to see your blog, you need to help them find you.  Include links to others blogs/people on your blog, share your posts on other channels (G+, FB, LinkedIn, etc) and make it easy for other people to share your posts.
• Invite guest bloggers.
• Link a post to G+ for comments can be an effective way  to enable comments on your post while concurrently extending its reach. (HT @ZenMoments)
• Blog writing is different. See post: Rapid Fire for details.
• Keep the interface clean and simple. Turn off the noise, let the reader focus.
• There are color schemes that make reading easier, use them. 
• Don't plan too much up front.  Let it emerge.  See how the traction goes with readers/public.
• Discussion of sensitive topics may be challenging given the text nature of the blogosphere, where nuance can be lost. 

Blog Technical Assessments:

• Blogger was easy when there were no alternatives.
• Squarespace features/tools were fantastic, but it is expensive per site.  Provided sophisticated entry for novice.  Not sure that tools/widgets are keeping up with the times and their customer service/support was dodgy considering how expensive it was/is. 
• Posterous is a simple, clean interface. 
• Tumblr makes blogging/posting fun, though navigating setting up themes/adding comment capability via disqus takes extra time/expertise.
• WordPress, tried three times to use this platform and find it a fail for my own sites.  However, I have participated on multiple projects that use WordPress effectively, and as a writer on those efforts, I have found it easy to use.  Getting over the set up, design/plugin process and maintenance is key barrier to entry.
• Weebly, use it to host both sites and blog and find it useful.  I fear the day that I ever try to leave, since it is all drag/drop widgets, I am not sure how portable it is, but for now, it'll work.
• Ning could have been great, but required people to be on it and if it's not already part of their work flow, it's not likely to gain traction and traffic.
• Google Sites is OK for projects, not flexible for website portal and not 'sticky' for community engagement.

On March 30, 2012... in cities around the world, designers and creatives met in teams to donate 8 hours overtime for a good cause as part of 8-i, a self-organizing event kickstarted by New Guard designers in the NLs in 2004... learn more about 8-i

We joined teams of creatives all over the world (Netherlands, Berlin, London, Vienna, New York, Rio) ... in an 8 hour sprint to solve a communications challenge.  San Francisco participated for the first time. Live from Studio 305 in the Best Foods Building, a team of creatives solved a communications challenge for the non-profit, InSTEDD (innovative support technologies for emergencies, disease and disaster). Learn more about InSTEDD's amazing tool suite at instedd.org

Thanks to rockstar SF Creative Team!

Betty Chen
Lina Constantinovici
Kinnari Desai
Brooke Estin (InSTEDD)
Kate Ettinger
Taema Mahinui
Benjamin Packard (Retainer Media)
Aviva Raskin (Bloxes)

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...)

After incubating this idea for awhile, I am jumping in feet first - splash!

For #socentethics, we are designing a method that allows flexible, precise action adaptable to the diverse core values of social enterprises. 

Our aim is to empower social entrepreneurs to act with integrity at every step from start up to scale.  We want your inspired action to calatyze your investors, funders, supporters, and customers so that you can grow your mission to change the world!

Join us in be the change, so that we can SEE the change:

 #Excellence

 #Trustworthiness

 #Humility

 #Integrity

 #Collaboration

#Socialchange

Next steps:

1) Funders/Collaborators: Who should we talk to:

• Are there funders who want to support building the foundation of integrity in the new marketplace?  We have lots of great intention and a flow of passionate, patient capital- our aim is to maximize the benefit! 
• Who else is in this space and how can we work together to leverage our expertise & passion?
• Are there ventures already off the ground that whose market we complement? Please connect us!

2) Partners/Referrals: Please refer social entrepreneurs or social enterprises for crisis consultation and/or to work with us as a case study as we  proto-type the SocEntEthics method

3) Questions/Comments: More posts to follow on the opportunity, the method, and the plan forward... let us know what you want/need to know to get on board with SocEntEthics .... together, we will SEE the change.

empowering social entrepreneurs to act from core values when faced with tough decisions

SocEntEthics, supports social entrepreneurs negotiate the tough decisions inevitable when doing work for the greater good with limited resources.

As a social entrepreneur and a health care ethicist, Kate Michi Ettinger values a concrete, pragmatic approach to ethics.  With SocEntEthics, Kate cross-pollinates her passions for innovation, social enterprise, systems-level analysis, and ethics into a synthesized approach for social enterprise ventures to express their values in their action.  SocEntEthics is developing as L3C (low-profit limited liability corporation), in order to demonstrate by example and learn with its users as a "greater good" venture with a sustainable revenue model.

Our aim is to build a platform that guides SEs through a systematic analysis of a dilemma, allows SEs to share frameworks and strategies for negotiating ethical dilemmas, enables SEs to collaborate on tackling challenging dilemmas of scale/setbacks/geo-political origin, and empowers SEs to identify ways to transcend dilemmas while remaining true to their SE's mission. Re-envisioning ethics in a proactive, integrated approach allows a SE to act with iterative process and moved beyond judgements of right-wrong/good-bad. The SocEntEthics Method asks tough questions and explores uncertain terrain while emphasizing ethical dilemas in their narrative, integrative, collaborative and empathic context.

A robust ethical underpinning is integral to the fabric of social enterprises. SocEntEthics aims to empower social enterprises with the tools, skills and resources to:

• act in alignment with your core values & social change mission 
• excel in social change impact without compromising your ideals
• negotiate tough decisions inherent in social change with integrity and compassion
• steward your social capital resources with trustworthiness 

See here for more information on: our services, in the news, support our venture.



SocEntEthics Team

Ethical dilemmas benefit from multiple perspectives.  As an ethics consulting service, SocEntEthics is building a global team that includes social entrepreneurs, social change agents, artists, integrated leadership experts and ethical expertise.  Together, our team, is designing a SocEntEthics model that can serve as an ethical foundation for any social enterprise venture although our initial focus will be on social enterprises for health.

Team includes: 

• Kate Michi Ettinger, JD, managing ideator for SocEntEthics consulting team, brings expertise in bioethics, law and conflict resolution combined with product design experience as a social entrepreneur. These lenses shape her perspective in creating this ethical advisory resource for social entrepreneurs.

• ADVISORY BOARD: Putting together an advisory board to be our external agitators & conscience.  If you are interested or would like to nominate someone, please drop us an email at: info @ [domain] .com

• CONCEPT CREATORS: Building a network of passionate innovators, social entrepreneurs, social venture investors and multi-inter-cross-disciplinary change agents to help us build the platform & move this forward.   If you are interested or would like to nominate someone, please drop us an email at: info @ [domain] .com

• TECH & DESIGN Team: Looking for developers, artists & designers to assist us getting this up and running!  If you are interested or would like to nominate someone, please drop us an email at: info @ [domain] .com

We are building our team.  To get involved please follow us on Twitter @socentethics  #socentethics. 

SocEntEthics is developing an innovative platform for navigating ethical dilemmas and implementing a sustainable approach to our ethics consultation services.  We partner with our clients to deliver an integrated ethics program tailored to your social enterprise venture.

We offer consulting through appointments and drop in office hours to discuss issues you have encountered and those you are facing.


Our consulting services are flexible and may combine any services:

1. SocEntEthics Core Integration

• SEE Integrated Optimal Action Plan 
  

• SEE Decision Impact Audit

2. SocEntEthics Issue Specific & Crisis Consultation

• Issue Specific/Crisis Consultation
  

3. SocEntEthics Tools, Skills, Resources

• Tools
  • SocEntEthics Method
  • SocEntEthics Platform

• Skills Training
  • Navigating Uncertainty
  • Skillfully Applying the 3Ps (Power, Privilege, Position)
  • Negotiating Values Conflicts

• Resources

The SocEntEthics Method/Platform  is in development.  At the outset, we will work with 10 social enterprise ventures as case studies.  If your social enterprise would like to partner with SocEntEthics as a case study, please DM us on Twitter with a link to your venture and/or email address. 


Sustainability

Our economic model aims to model the ethos of this endeavor with a fierce commitment to Excellence, radical Transparency, daring Humility, and to challenge the status quo of current assumptions about Integrity, Collaboration and Social Justice.

Our goal is to develop a sustainable revenue stream to support the technology platform and to drive innovative applications for #socentethics. We will measure success by accountability and activity. Our aim is to impact the greater good and redefine ethics --> #socentethics. Ou commitment is to model our message and demonstrate our products.

In order to promote integrity & accountability and to provide high quality services at a lower cost with broad impact, social enterprise ventures who partner with us for consulting services will be invited to release learning from our consulting services that can be provided in a redacted form as case studies.  The redacting process allow clients anonymity including sector and geographic changes while allowing SocEntEthics to leverage its talent for maximal benefit of social enterprises.  


Details

SocEntEthics Core Integration

• SEE Integrated Optimal Action Plan 
  
  • Facilitate outcome-focused integrated ethics plan across all levels of SE
  • Provide skills & resources for optimal actions
  • Support SE through implementation
  • Issue-specific consultations
  • Ethics Quality Improvement
    • Deliverables:
      • Integrated Optimal Action Plan
      • Skills & resources to achieve OA
      • Implementation & Crisis Support
      • Outcome Evaluation & QI Planning

• SEE Decision Impact Audit
  • Facilitate analysis of decision impact on relevant stakeholders
  • Identify strategies for action that align with integrated OA plan
  • Explore alternative options, reasoning, impact, opportunities
    • Deliverables: 
      
      • Facilitated Decision Impact Discussion
      • Decision Impact Report

2. SocEntEthics Issue Specific & Crisis Consultation

• Issue Specific/Crisis Consultation
  
  • Facilitate identification of the issue
  • Identify strategies for action that align with SE values
  • Explore alternative options, reasoning, impact, opportunities
    • Deliverables: 
      
      • Facilitated Issue Discussion
      • Issue Consult Report

3. SocEntEthics Tools, Skills, Resources

• Tools
  • SocEntEthics Method
  • SocEntEthics Platform

• Skills Training
  • Navigating Uncertainty
  • Skillfully Applying the 3Ps (Power, Privilege, Position)
  • Negotiating Values Conflicts

• Resources

Why Mural?  
Kate Mural is the name that I wanted to use as "nom de plume" since college.  One of the meanings is explained here. 

What's the Mural Institute?
The Mural Institute is the foundation I imagined that I would operate from the funds generate from the as-yet-to-be written nobel prize winning novel.  The foundation would focus on social impact by nurturing changemakers and supporting solutions to entrenched problems through user-centered design, funding radical innovations with 50% fail-rate and only projects designed for self-obsolescence or to disintermediate a problem significantly to justify an ongoing enterprise.

In 2007, I decided to invest my in projects and issues that had significant social impact.  I dedicated my time, energy, knowledge and effort to clinical ethics, mediation, leadership capacity building with changemakers and social enterprise. 

On July 28, 2008, the Mural Institute website launched as a central portfolio to keep track of my passions projects.