{
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    "title" : "In Crowdsourcing Competitions, Defining the Problem is Half the Battle |Digital.gov",
    "description": "In Crowdsourcing Competitions, Defining the Problem is Half the Battle",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/28/in-crowdsourcing-competitions-defining-the-problem-is-half-the-battle/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"In Crowdsourcing Competitions, Defining the Problem is Half the Battle","summary" : "After leading a complex effort to crowdsource ideas to solve a problem facing your agency, the last thing you want to hear is that the innovative solutions you received don’t actually help remedy the issue. More than 20 federal innovators recently took part in","date" : "2014-04-28T10:00:31-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"tlowden" : "Tim Lowden"},"topics" : {
        
            "challenges-and-prize-competitions" : "Challenges and prize competitions",
            "crowdsourcing-and-citizen-science" : "Crowdsourcing and citizen science"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2014-04-28-in-crowdsourcing-competitions-defining-the-problem-is-half-the-battle.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2014/04/2014-04-28-in-crowdsourcing-competitions-defining-the-problem-is-half-the-battle.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/04/2014-04-28-in-crowdsourcing-competitions-defining-the-problem-is-half-the-battle.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/04/2014-04-28-in-crowdsourcing-competitions-defining-the-problem-is-half-the-battle.md","slug" : "in-crowdsourcing-competitions-defining-the-problem-is-half-the-battle","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/28/in-crowdsourcing-competitions-defining-the-problem-is-half-the-battle/","content" :"\u003cdiv class=\"image image-right image-right-legacy\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/04/250-x-188-Ideation-ChallengeGov-training-photo-4.jpg\"\n    alt=\"photo of post-it notes and papers for ideas\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter leading a complex effort to crowdsource ideas to solve a problem facing your agency, the last thing you want to hear is that the innovative solutions you received don’t actually help remedy the issue.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMore than 20 federal innovators recently took part in a workshop offered to avoid such a scenario. The Department of Homeland Security’s Meredith Lee, who also serves as the volunteer lead for the \u003ca href=\"https://max.omb.gov/community/display/Planning/Ideation+Community+of+Practice+%28Idea+Generation+Tools%29\"\u003eFederal Ideation Community of Practice\u003c/a\u003e (ICOP), led the participants through various exercises to help agencies learn to identify and define the problems they face; a key part of the process of any ideation exercise and/or challenge competition.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith interest in federal ideation increasing and the recent launch of \u003ca href=\"https://www.challenge.gov/\"\u003eChallenge.gov\u003c/a\u003e, a free federal public prize competition crowdsourcing tool, the workshop was a timely reminder of the work needed to plan a successful challenge. (Hint: It starts with an accurate problem statement!)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLee noted that often a problem is assumed before needed research is done about the people it affects, and then long processes (such as a public prize competition) are carried out, all the while asking the wrong question.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThree important takeaways of the workshop include:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"1-empathy-is-key\"\u003e1. Empathy is key\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnderstanding the people who are affected by the problem is the most important part of the process of creating an actionable, accurate problem statement. Before making assumptions about what might solve an issue, take the time to explore the thoughts, values, and opinions of the users. If you can, interview them personally.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe participants in the workshop were given a mock scenario, improving the “lunch experience”, and asked to interview each other to gain insight about the other person’s view of lunch.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEmphasis was placed on listening rather than leading, and using phrases like “tell me more” and “why.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe results were telling and varied. The “important” part of a lunch break was reported in many forms:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEscaping the office\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA chance to get needed exercise\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFood itself was most relevant\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCatch up on work\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt became obvious that improving the “lunch experience” would not easily be summed up with a singular action.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/04/IMG-20140402-00016-533x400.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Workshop participants in an activity\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"2-think-about-user-point-of-view\"\u003e2. Think about user point-of-view\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUse the feelings, emotions, thoughts, beliefs, actions, behaviors, and quotes you collected while empathizing with users to form insights and create point-of-view statements. Having a grasp of the point of view will assist you in forming the problem statement and the “ask” for your crowdsourcing competition.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLee recommended using a simple formula to create user point-of-view statements:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“[insert user] needs a way to [insert need] in order to/because [insert insights].”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"3-state-the-problem-before-the-ask\"\u003e3. State the problem before the ask\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image image-right image-right-legacy\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/04/250-x-188-Ideation-ChallengeGov-training-photo-3.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Ideation ChallengeGov training photo 3\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen you prepare to run the challenge, make sure the potential solvers know the problem itself (which you painstakingly identified previously) before asking them to do something; it’ll help both you and the potential solvers stay focused and produce more pointed solutions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor example, instead of opening your competition description with, \u0026ldquo;We want ideas for new methods to harvest honey,\u0026rdquo; state the problem behind it, and then ask for ideas:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Recent weather conditions have caused this year\u0026rsquo;s crop of honey to be thicker than usual, and as a result, the current systems to harvest honey from the combs are not cost-effective, which drives up the price to the consumer. We are looking for ideas for new methods to harvest this unusually thick honey.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith this method, the potential solver has a much better idea of what he/she is trying to accomplish.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFor more information on challenges and crowdsourcing, see the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/crowdsourcing-toolkit-for-federal-agencies/\"\u003eCrowdsourcing Toolkit for Federal Agencies\u003c/a\u003e or email \u003ca href=\"mailto:challenge@gsa.gov\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"mailto:challenge@gsa.gov\"\u003echallenge@gsa.gov\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/a\u003e to join the Challenges and Prizes Community of Practice listserv. To join the Federal Ideation Community of Practice, which focuses on internal agency ideation, email \u003ca href=\"mailto:meredith.lee@st.dhs.gov\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"mailto:meredith.lee@st.dhs.gov\"\u003emeredith.lee@st.dhs.gov\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}