When and How to Innovate (and take some risks) With Technology

1) When and How to Innovate (and take some risks) With Technology

9am-10:30am.

A frank conversation about technology innovation within nonprofit organizations. WiFi, Voice over IP, web-based knowledge management and constituency organizing, open source software processes and other solutions hold promises for better, faster, more targeted program delivery. Yet, there are few nonprofits that effectively jump on these opportunities.

We will focus on these questions: When and how can npos operate closer to the technology cutting edge and, by so doing, make technology a truly innovative tool?

This session will shed light on why many nonprofits, while increasingly integrating technology into their day-to-day operations, are still risk-averse regarding innovative solutions, agile and more nimble approaches to technology strategy and implementation, and an entrepreneurial approach in regard to their use of technology in their organizations.

Panelists will kick off the conversation by examining when why nonprofits seem unwilling to take risks, and discussing what kinds of technological risks are worth taking and when. Examples of innovative projects will be provided, along will details on what led to and/or hindered their success.

Ample time (at least .5 hour or more) will be devoted to involving the audience in the discussion.

Panelists: Phil Klein www.penpixel.com  , Katrin Verclas www.aspirationtech.org  , Peter Haas center for neighborhood technology www.cnt.org

Format

-15 mins 9-9:15

---who's here (show hands: npo staff? npo staff techies? nonprofit tech assistance provider techies? consultants? for profit vendors?)

---poll (show hands: jot on board: you or your org is: a) risk averse b) risk receptive, but skeptical c) willing to take small risks d) take strategic, significant risks

---part 2 (for each of the above; at the beginning and again at the end of the session: should you be more or less of a risktaker than you now are.)

---what are some questions about innovation and risktaking relating to tech projects that you have?

-panelist sessions 45 mins 9:15-10:00
--Phil Klein til-9:30
--Peter Haas til-9:45
--Katrin Verclas til-10am

---we each take 10-15 mins each to talk about innovation, risktaking and related questions. Talk about the benefits of the risks taken and also the costs.

-open discussion 25 mins 10:00-10:25

---questions for panelists
----unanswered questions, your experiences, your thoughts

---questions by panelists

-closing 10:25-10:30 (or earlier)

---revisit polls (for each of the above; at the beginning and again at the end of the session: should you be more or less of a risktaker than you now are)

Phil’s presentation 15 Minute talk

What is innovation?

• innovate: bring something new to an environment
• innovation: a creation (a new device or process) resulting from study and experimentation

Our environment characterized by increasing

• Change

• Uncertainty

• Complexity

and also increasing

• Network capability and efficiency

• Communications tools

• Collaboration tools

"In an uncertain world risk becomes a part of life. A robust organization must be willing and able to take on and manage risks in a manner that maximizes the probability of success while protecting against disasters. ...The effective management of risk should be an invisible characteristic of the culture---built into the way the work gets done. The areas of probability assessments, scenario development and simulations are supportive of risk management." p55 Organizational Survival in the New World (by Alex & David Bennet)

New Technologies are often such that we don't know how best they can or will be used when we're desiging them; so design in ways that support open ways of using your tools

Organizational Processes that matter in this environment

• Creativity & Brainstorming

• Problem-Solving

• Decision-Making

• Implementation
  

What innovative approaches and technologies have you taken on projects?

---open source, interorganizational collaboration, particapatory development, thoroughly researching projects, building partnerships with stakeholders, building for one but sharing the toolset with many (asp model, open source), coupling data collection with evaluation and reporting options.

----networkcentricity; social networking tools and concepts, knowledge-sharing initiatives, communities of practice; knowledge fairs.

technologies:

---sourceforge, bravelo, mindmapper, IM, database driven websites, cms systems, satellite internet connectivity for remote rural villages, voip, wifi
---recommender systems and collaborative filtering
---open source platforms (license, sourceforge, php mysql, LAMP computers),

How do you handle risk in your conception and planning
1) business risk management (in the research, scoping, and business viability estimation) of projects
2) technical risk management during the development and execution of projects (such as scope creep, use of cutting edge technologies).

What does it mean if a project fails?

It depends on the reason it fails. If it fails for a bad or dumb reason, then it reflects badly, but if it fails and you learn from it, then it doesn’t count against you, especially if others can learn from it too. (As in the new rules requiring drug companies to report negative results of studies as well as those that show promise). In a way, I think we need to de-judgementalize failure – a nonprofit that has good success with even 1 in 3 ventures could be very successful overall.

What is the value of experimentation?

--hard to measure, will vary widely
--can't know unless you do it
--Benetech and a few others with a social entrepreneur model do plan for this 

What is the definition of project success?

• we did our best?

• we learned a good deal?

• we met our deliverables?

• we pleased our funder?

• we were ontime and on budget?

What holds npos back from taking sensible risks?

• inadequate technical knowledge

• limited ability to envision and/or apply technology benefits to meet organization mission

• limited strategic view, short-term vision, band-aid mentality

• limited resources

• commitment to meet immediate needs

• unwillingness to fail, or fear of failure

• fear of technology

• poor communication skills of techies

• been burned before by wide-eyed visionaries

• judgment that any mistakes are bad, fear of damage to reputation of exposing errors or screwups

• hidden and unmanageable costs of bleeding edge technologies

• uncertain return on investing in open source approaches; and in sharing resources.

• unproven hype and uninformed speculation

risks that prevent collaboration

• ego-centric organization perspective

• turf issues, fear and unwillingness to work with others

• belief in organizational uniqueness

• complexity of risks, of not knowing, of uncertainty,

What are some of the benefits of the risks you've taken?

• finding better solutions or methods than were otherwise possible

• learned more than otherwise

• could share our failure so others wouldn't have to repeat it

• brought to bear powerful synergies

• reached or created a new paradigm, or insightful way of meeting organizational goals.

• increased the impact (in #no of beneficiaries or other outcomes) of the project

What are some of the costs for the risks you've taken?

• blind alleys

• tail between legs back to funders

• cost overruns and/or time delays

• project failure

• potential of damaging our track record or reputation

• looked foolish

• met some but not all project objectives

Case Studies

Suggestions:

• Dream wildly and be inventive (across boundaries and beyond past history. Envision your tools beyond the scope of your project; abstract to a higher level. Set aside time for this and don’t jump straight to building what you think you need – muddle it over first. Encourage questioning. Don’t look only within your  organization, but consider who could contribute and where valuable nexus may be.)
• Do your research (verify stability and viability of technology, seek out similar  projects or visions, and build connections with people using and working on the technologies now. Study other thinkers and dreamers – Knowledge Management (books), Communities of Practice, Sustainable Innovation, Network centric thinking all have good books that discuss ideas that can transform how work is envisioned. See Movement as Network by Gideon Rosenblatt, read Valdis Krebs' Papers http://www.orgnet.com , and for advocacy projects read Mary Kearns.)
• Have rigorous standards for viability, sustainability and maintainability, and meet them.  Do a cost benefit analysis. (Good business sense is key). 
• For larger projects, consider doing a pilot first. Include a few go/no-go points in the project so you can cut losses if you have to.) 
• Open your processes carefully (to stakeholders, peer organizations, and users. Provide opportunities and use tools that let people participate as they meet their own needs too. Use open source licensing and tools when it makes sense. Packetize opportunities to participate appropriately.) Get on appropriate email lists such as http://npogroups.org/lists/info/riders-tech , find more links at http://mist146.drizzle.com/bookmarknpotools.htm 
• Share your work, and involve the smartest people you can find, wherever they are.
• Manage projects with diligence (using a sound and appropriately flexible project management philosophy. See http://www.stevemcconnell.com/sg.htm and http://www.extremeprogramming.org/ .)
• Emphasize and speak openly about the risks and potential benefits of the project.
• Keep a risks list, weekly. Sample .

where does this lead?

Continued lowering of the barrier to communicate and across methods of communication, continued lowering of barriers to sharing knowledge.

Four hypothetical examples: http://www.omidyar.net/group/netchange/news/8/2/ 

Blogging, shareable bookmarks http://del.icio.us/ , social networking in the npo sector www.omidyar.net & www.linkedin.org , use of wikis.