NASA’s Centre of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation
I recently had the great privilege of speaking with Christine Jenkins and Ryon Stewart of NASA’s Centre of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI) on the first episode of my second season of the Cool Collaborations podcast. We had such a great conversation that we decided to split the conversation across two episodes. At the time I’m writing this blog, the first half of our conversation has been out for a week and the second half will be posted next week.
Both Christine and Ryon are Challenge Coordinators at CoECI, which means they connect problems with problem solver crowds. They work with organizations wishing to use crowdsourcing as a way to tackle a specific problem by helping them define their project and providing tools like the NASA Tournament Lab (a way to crowdsource potential solutions) and access to contractors able to carry out crowdsourcing projects. While there are a few different ways they can go with the actual crowdsourcing, from freelancing to large, multi-phase contest and rewards, the basics are that CoECI helps bring the wisdom of the crowd to address problems faced by government.
Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing
Generally, companies don’t share their secrets because those secrets are what allow them to be seen as unique in the marketplace. Think of KFC and their 11-herbs-and-spices recipe. Open innovation is about opening the hood on at least a part of a company’s intellectual property; enough sharing to allow for new approaches or products to be developed or for a problem to be addressed.
With crowdsourcing, it can allow you open little bits of your intellectual property, out when it makes sense and allow the public to help you, and you bring in those really good solutions. (Ryon Stewart)
Once a company has decided to engage open innovation, one of the tools they can use to access potential solutions is crowdsourcing (see Crowdsourcing Collaboration for more). The idea it to engage very broadly to see what ideas and potential solutions come forward. There are really no limits on who can participate, so suggestions can come from anyone with an idea how to handle the problem.
Crowdsourcing gives us the opportunity to tap into people that you may not have ever talked to. (Christine Jenkins)
Sometimes, crowdsourcing can break down the silos by allowing people within the same organization to talk to one another about a problem. Ryon provides a great example of how one area of the NASA organization posed an internal challenge to a problem they were tackling to the rest of the organization, instead of contracting help from outside the organization. As a result of that internal challenge, they were able to find a viable solution and reconnect with the knowledge held in another part of their own organization.
A friend and colleague once told me that “You can’t be a prophet in your own land.” (originally from Luke 4:24), meaning that we will often overlook, discount, or even outright ignore the great ideas or solutions that come from our own organizations. As Ryon’s story suggests, there can be huge benefits to using a tool like crowdsourcing to draw on the expertise inside your own walls.
We find this collaboration amongst participants on a challenge … you’ll see the people in the forums working with each other, trying to improve their solutions. It’s not my rice bowl kinda thing. (Christine Jenkins)
A big part of a crowdsourcing project is about clearly defining the project (the challenge) and then working really hard to fairly evaluate the potential solutions that come in. Often, a panel of judges reviews the answers provided by the crowd, and their own review of the solutions can be scrutinized as part of the project.
Telling the Crowdsourcing Story
CoECI records metrics on basically everything you can think of regarding its crowdsourcing projects. The survey at the beginning and end to determine how well their project do, how much money is saved, and how well the crowdsourcing process has worked. And guess what? Crowdsourcing is a phenomenal success. With over 600 projects completed and success rates in the mid-90’s, not to mention the huge savings from traditional problem solving methods. These numbers and metrics are also incredibly influential in convincing people to give crowdsourcing a try.
One of the questions we ask was “Would you use crowdsourcing again should you have a problem like this in the future?” And basically 99% of people we work with say “Yes”. (Ryon Stewart)
The CoECI approach to measuring and monitoring is something that should be baked into all collaborative projects, even the small projects. Ask questions and survey people at the beginning and end so that there are data on which to draw to convince people who might be skeptical of the power of collaboration.
The second part of our conversation and exploration of NASA’s Centre of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation is only a week away. Make sure you listen to part 1 so you’re ready when part 2 hits the airwaves.
I know that not everyone agrees that crowdsourcing is a form of collaboration, so I’m curious what you think and also what kinds of problems you feel are most suited to a crowdsourced solution? Leave a comment below or email me at scott.millar@collaboration-dynamics.com.
Happy Collaborating.
Scott Millar, through Collaboration Dynamics, often works as a "peacemaker" by gathering people with different experiences and values and helping them navigate beyond their differences to tackle complex problems together.
Season 2 of the Cool Collaborations podcast is here! Join Scott as he explores fun stories and insights of successful collaboration with guests from around the world, and then dives into what made them work. Cool Collaborations is currently available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify.
