Diversity in problem-solving: the first federal government platform for solving federal science and technology, policy, and design challenges using the wisdom of crowds

by: a curious public servant | | Share

Duration: 8 minutes, 49 second(s).

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Imagine that you have a problem that you have not been able to solve. Perhaps it is a complex scientific or technical issue, such as using artificial intelligence to make weather forecasts more accurate. Or maybe there is a need to create a national policy in response to an emerging social issue. Or maybe you would like design ideas for a new app being developed by your department. Whatever challenge you may have, when you require a solution that you can’t figure out, where do you go to find an answer? Chances are you try to research the answer. Sometimes you may ask someone else for help, like a colleague, for instance. Perhaps you approach a university. You may even hire an external consultant. These are traditional methods we use to solve challenges.

“While the internet has made asking for help easier and given us a wider reach to get answers, often it just does not work for challenges that are new, complex or context specific.”

In our increasingly connected world, it is possible that someone somewhere has faced a similar problem. And while the internet has made asking for help easier and given us a wider reach to get answers, often it just does not work for challenges that are new, complex or context specific.

A novel approach to problem-solving has made its way to the Government of Canada (GC) through Mark Cantwell, Chief Strategist for Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). For the last several years, Mark and his team have promoted crowdsourcing as a novel tool for innovation within the GC landscape.

Diversifying problem-solving

“There was a study done at Harvard that found 70% of the challenges that were solved via crowdsourcing were solved outside the discipline from which the challenge originated. It is diversity and not just volume.”

Mark explains that crowdsourcing is a highly effective approach to innovation from which organizations can truly benefit, no matter the nature of the challenge. Crowdsourcing is incredibly resourceful because it allows for greater diversity in solving challenges. “It is not just the number of eyeballs looking at the problem,” Mark explains. “There was a study done at Harvard that found 70% of the challenges that were solved via crowdsourcing were solved outside the discipline from which the challenge originated. It is diversity and not just volume.”

He gave an example of a potato chip company that wanted to know how to remove excess grease from a potato chip. By publishing their challenge on a private sector crowdsourcing platform, and rephrasing their challenge, a solution arose from unexpected sources.  Because the challenge was rearticulated from “how is excess grease removed from a potato chip” to “how is an oily substance removed from a fragile substrate,” computer chip experts were able to assist in solving the problem. This is the power that comes from crowds.

“Traditionally,” he says, “We hire subject matter experts who have studied, learned, and worked in very similar ways and we put them in a room to discuss. But these methods of problem-solving limit creativity. Crowdsourcing allows for 'outside the box' thinking.”

When we were young and frustrated by a puzzle we couldn’t solve, our parents would tell us to take a break and come back to look at the puzzle with “fresh eyes.” Mark is proposing the same concept, on a larger scale. “Traditionally,” he says, “We hire subject matter experts who have studied, learned, and worked in very similar ways and we put them in a room to discuss. But these methods of problem-solving limit creativity. Crowdsourcing allows for ‘outside the box’ thinking.”

To Oxford University and beyond!

An innovator from the get-go, Mark recalls the unique beginning to his crowdsourcing journey. 10 years ago, while working for the Meteorological Services at ECCC, Mark was asked to draft an Innovation strategy and found himself at a loss. “I had very little knowledge of the topic at the time,” he admits, “So, in taking the initiative to learn, I personally financed my enrollment and travel costs to Oxford University’s Post Graduate program in Strategy and Innovation.” It was during this period that Mark learned about open innovation and crowdsourcing to solve scientific and technical challenges. “This approach requires offering a reward or incentive to potential solvers, no matter where in the world they live,” Mark says. He explains further “Crowdsourcing is not actually new: the private sector has successfully adopted this approach in a big way with the advent of the internet to improve their products and services. In fact, crowdsourcing has been around since at least the early 1700’s, when the British Parliament issued the Longitude Prize seeking a solution to the problem of determining longitude accurately for maritime navigation. While the private sector is using crowdsourcing extensively, it hasn’t been adopted widely within public services around the world. I wanted to bring this novel way of innovation to the Government of Canada.”

Crowdsourcing and the GC

Introducing this to the GC took a lot of work. Not only did it require a significant amount of research, Mark chose to develop a relationship with one of the most well known public organizations using  crowdsourcing: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, otherwise known as NASA. Its work facilitating access to crowdsourcing platforms and departmental challenges within the United States government would provide a baseline example for the GC. “I was interested in how they set themselves up to be recognized and institutionalized, so upon my return I drafted a strategy for how this could be considered within the Government of Canada context which I then presented to policy makers, procurement officers, scientists and other leaders within the GC,” Mark says.

Public servants are governed by policies and mandates that keep our organizations running smoothly. But bureaucratic processes do sometimes pose barriers for those trying to push beyond regulatory restrictions and innovate our public service. Mark is no stranger to such challenges, “When you are in the game of innovation, you are challenging existing ways of thinking. You are asking people to do things differently than they usually do, and often there is great resistance to that”. It took several years of pushing through various administrative constraints, but, ultimately, the GC hired a private sector crowdsourcing platform for the first time to solve 3 scientific and design challenges.

“Public servants are governed by policies and mandates that keep our organizations running smoothly. But bureaucratic processes do sometimes pose barriers for those trying to push beyond regulatory restrictions and innovate our public service.”

Mark then moved on to the second part of his strategy – a crowdsourcing platform internal to the government of Canada. Mark is trying to bring crowdsourcing to the GC because he wants what all public servants want: to find solutions to the challenges faced by Canadians. “We are a public service,” he says, “The public does have challenges, be it environmental, policy related and so forth.” Mark and his team have worked diligently to make this a reality and will soon make available the Canadian Federal Interdepartmental Crowdsourcing Platform (accessible to registered GCXchange users on the GC network). 

Mark used his personal work experience to give us an idea on how crowdsourcing can be used for the good of the public service. “I work for the meteorological services here in Canada, but as we know there are weather and climate service centres in every country: each is working on the same thing: to predict the weather and climate. wouldn’t it be great if we had a mechanism that would allow us to pose meteorological or climatological challenges that would be viewed by every weather center around the world in real time?,” Mark asks

A way forward

We are encouraged through the Public Service Renewal: Beyond 2020 initiative to work towards being an agile, inclusive, and equipped workforce. Maintaining our position as an internationally recognised leading public service means driving deeper change in how we work. Mark and his team are doing just that with this crowdsourcing initiative. 

Mark left us with some parting words conveyed to him by a NASA scientist. “Own the problem, not the solution”. When a challenge is presented, often individuals focus on claiming ownership of their solution rather than finding the best solution. Once again, it is important for us to continue to challenge our conventional ways of thinking in efforts to continue to modernize the public service.

If you are interested in crowdsourcing, check out this benchmark study conducted by Mark and his team assessing the current global state of reward-based crowdsourcing platforms around the world.

The site is expected to launch before the new year (at GC crowdsourcing tool), which will first require viewers to register for GCXchange (accessible to users on the GC network).

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