OpenIDEO – problem solving tribes

Under the headline ‘solving problems together for the collective good‘ the folks over at Contagious chat with Tom Hulme, Design Director at Ideo, about OpenIDEO (introduced via video by Jamie Oliver here), a platform harnessing the power of crowds, which they hope will provide solutions posed by brands, charities and individuals. Tom says some interesting things in the interview. The core incentive here seems to be kudos (as well as something they have labeled a ‘design quotient’) – Ideo hoping that this will be perceived as a ‘badge of honour’. Certainly a pat on the back and the chance to show off motivates many, but will that be enough?. He goes on to say ‘We’re excited about having a community being at the bleeding edge of design and business and, two weeks after launch, we’ve been stunned by how positive the experience has been. The quality of the contributions have been excellent and 99% of the comments on social media have been overwhelmingly positive.’

But perhaps most exciting is this ‘Modern technology is enabling people to engage with brands and causes, and new media and platforms allow us to grow new muscles. However, one of the things we learnt early on was that, if your incentives aren’t properly aligned, you will fail.’

So the community is there but get your incentives right or you will fail.