Exploring how innovation, design & technology can reduce poverty at the Base of the Pyramid

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Reflections from Day 1: Berkeley

1. Understand the perspective of the end-user.
  • "No one likes their smart phone."
  • "The elderly don't like to be called 'elderly'."
  • "Drawing on maps using local language can help understand a neighborhood."
2. Work across disciplines.
  • Technical skills (engineers, computer science)
  • Tagline - keep it simple (MBA)
  • Aesthetics (web designers)

3. Theory of Change

  • What will the future look like? Then work backwards
  • Top and Bottom - convince leaders and also find hubs of frustration
  • "What does it look like inside the WB?"

2 comments:

Unknown said...

On the change side I just wonder what good practices are in nimble organizations (like the ones you are visiting) in having a spare capacity or a headroom allowing them to quickly address the external shocks. Is it 5%, 10%, or 20% of staff positions to be kept as contingency? what are your findings?

Alexis Sampson said...

Marilyn - That is a great point. This theme of being 'nimble' and 'agile' keeps coming up.

I haven't heard any specific formulas yet, but we'll investigate on this.

Thanks for the question!