What to Focus Upon?

Over the last months of 2017, I discussed quite a number of topics that I personally found interesting, with varying responses from others.  Clearly, to move from talking to doing some focus is necessary, and honestly I’d love to find something sufficiently compelling to get some friends interested and involved as well. 

What sounds interesting?  Should we strive to influence city hall or the chamber to refocus local business incentives?  Should we strive to turn the tide on fringe neighborhoods to expand the vibrant footprint of downtown?  Do we go straight to the business base with ideas for improving global competitiveness?

Should we find somebody with money and try to open some funded venture, or just market ourselves based on good looks and clever repartee?  Are we progressive Makers, savvy Techies, economic consultants, business strategists, or what?

In last year’s thread, the expanded FabLab + junk pile notion seemed to get a lot of resonance, and some pointed feedback, and it supports STEM education which is a plus from my perspective.  Do we invest in the vigor of our youth, or accept that we may struggle to stay ahead of them and remain relevant?

Or do we push further up toward IoT and Big Data, fostering experimentation for cloud data and analytics, as either student/startup projects, or as a leg-up for existing businesses?  Do we embrace AI, deep learning, and build the workforce skills need to remain competitive in an increasingly automated and intelligent machine-managed world?

Here are some characteristics I think any good project should have:

-          Small core group – 2 pizza team.  If it’s gets much larger, it’s time to divide and conquer, targeting separate (but possibly related) targets with their own core groups.

-          Transparent and data driven.  “If you have data, let’s go with data.  If all we have is opinions, let’s go with mine.”  My opinions are very good, so data would be recommended!

-          Clear goals, measurable outcomes, and meaningful metrics. We gotta know how we’re doing so we can persevere or pivot as appropriate.

-          Follows the lead of the Lean Startup, Agile, Lean, and so forth – quick wins, valuable initial MVP, engaged customers, etc.  We should view our community effort as a startup, with highly constrained resources…so we’ll need to be diligent about what NOT to do.

-          Addresses the needs of average Tulsans, at least in whatever area of impact we select.  The goal should be populist but at a local level; the public should be the center of focus.

-          Big tent participation.  The effort should be feasible with just a few people, but nobody should be turned away.  As long as a person is willing and able to work as part of a team and not be destructive or too flaky, there should be work for them to do, of some sort.  Top-down pushes, back-room deals, and political maneuvering should be avoided.

-          Must be fun.  Meetings should often include food and sometimes beer.  Communications should be electronic in general, but face to face gatherings improves team relationships.  As a society we’ve moved away from most sorts of public interaction, whether professional organizations, civic groups, or softball leagues. 

-          High standards, reasonable expectations.  Who knows what can be achieved?  Hopefully something better than nothing.  But whatever we do, should be done well, and be intellectually rigorous. 

-          Team must be psychologically safe and embrace productive conflict.  Project Aristotle rules.

What have I missed?  What other ideas might we consider?