Why definitions are important – measurement, accountability and failure

The Playpump - a good idea, and massive failure

Source: Envirogadget

As an engineer, I am all about metrics for evaluating and iteratively improving on designs. Stresses and strains in a material are inherently quantitative and although these measurements come with their own set of challenges, measuring the impact of social ventures is much more difficult. How do you evaluate whether or not a product or service is improving the quality of someone’s life? This kind of influence is notoriously difficult to gauge. Sometimes, a product that seems to be influential by virtue of media attention or press but can be ineffective or even harmful. One example of perceived influence where the outcome was, in fact, worse than the original state is the Playpump. The Playpump concept uses a kids’ playground toy as a water pumping system so children playing passively pumps water for future use. After the installation of many pumps in various African regions, a Canadian student working in Malawi observed that the concept had gone terribly awry.  His saw that most of the time the pump users were struggling women. Although this story has a happy ending (full story here and a fantastic blog in general), it highlights the importance of structured social enterprise and making sure that even a profitable business is still a good one.

As I read about explorations into defining terms like “innovation” in social and entrepreneurial contexts, I love that people are really trying to develop best practices and strategies that will ultimately allow the collective forward movement of social enterprise in general. Closer examination and structuring of the social innovation process will help keep people accountable for the products they are bringing to countries where the FDA and CDC aren’t watching. The IDEO Human Centered Design Toolkit is a fabulous example of this kind of growth by encouraging meticulous needs-finding and working closely with the intended users. By keeping desirability, feasibility, and viability at the forefront of designs, the Playpump-type failures can be better avoided. 

Although creativity is an integral part of the process of social innovation, I believe structuring the process and getting everyone on the same page will help good ideas see meaningful success.