Auhinnad kui arendustegevustoode?

Eilse Netflix'i auhinna postituse jätkuks viitaks Steve Krause'i blogis mõni aeg tagasi ilmunud postitusele, mille peamine ja mainimist vääriv sõnum on Netflixi auhind kui toode:

By treating the Netflix Prize as a product, complete with features designed to maximize "customer" buy-in, Netflix created something far better than spending $1 million on its own researchers' salaries over time. In that sense, the Netflix Prize is more interesting as a business method—spearheaded by spot-on product marketing—than a "Which algorithm will win?" story.

Seda mõtet peab veel mõnda aega seedima, kuid ise enesest on ideel jumet. Huvitav on näiteks mõelda selle peale, kuidas muutuks suhtumine arendustegevusse kui seda võetaks kui toodet tänu auhindadele.

Et auhindade teema mõneks ajaks jälle arenema jätta, siis veel paar viidet huvitavamatele postitustele või uurimustele.

Michael Abramowicz kirjutab Concurring Opinions blogis auhindade väärtusest crowdsourcing'u edendamisel ja jõuab enda postituses sarnasele järeldusele, mis mina enda magistritöös:

In the end, crowdsourcing via prizes could rival existing industrial organization structures, but it may require a fair bit of careful supervision. The ultimate question, as Ronald Coase's Theory of the Firm suggests, is whether the costs of that supervision are less than the costs associated with the organization of hierarchical firms. Perhaps the small role of crowdsourcing in today's economy suggests that they are not. But if information technology continues to reduce the costs of controlling crowdsourcing, that could well change.

Tegelikult pole minu ja Abramowicz'i järeldused päris juhuslikult kokku langenud, sest tema 120 leheküljelise uurimusega tutvusin enda magistritöö jaoks. Kindlasti ei ole Abramowicz'i näol tegemist aga niisama arvajaga vaid ennast põhjalikult auhindade eripäraga kurssi viinud inimesega.

Teiseks mainimisväärseks kirjutiseks on Karim Lakhani eestvedamisel kokku kirjutatud uurimus The Value of Openness in Scientific Problem Solving (PDF) InnoCentive'ist, mida oleks hea meelega enda magistritöös kajastanud, kuid kahjuks valmis see samal ajal minu tööga. Sellegi poolest tsiteeriks uurimuse kokkuvõtet:

We show that disclosure of problem information to a large group of outside solvers is an effective means of solving scientific problems. The approach solved one-third of a sample of problems that large and well-known R & D-intensive firms had been
unsuccessful in solving internally. Problem-solving success was found to be associated with the ability to attract specialized solvers with range of diverse scientific interests. Furthermore, successful solvers solved problems at the boundary or outside of their fields of expertise, indicating a transfer of knowledge from one field to others.

Ja selles seisneb paljuski auhindade võlu - nad annavad selge signaali probleemi lahenduse väärtusest ning selle signaali abil on võimalik kaasata väga erinevate teadmistega inimesi, kes suudavad pakkuda lahendusi, millele isegi omaala eksperdid ei pruugi tulla.

Heaks näiteks sellest on Goldcorp'i juhtum. BusinessWeek vahendab:

Frustrated that his in-house geologists couldn't reliably estimate the value and location of the gold on his property, McEwen did something unheard of in his industry: He published his geological data on the Web for all to see and challenged the world to do the prospecting. The "Goldcorp Challenge" made a total of $575,000 in prize money available to participants who submitted the best methods and estimates.
. . .
The contestants identified 110 targets on the Red Lake property, more than 80% of which yielded substantial quantities of gold. In fact, since the challenge was initiated, an astounding 8 million ounces of gold have been found—worth well over $3 billion. Not a bad return on a half million dollar investment.

Today, Goldcorp is reaping the fruits of its radical approach to exploration. McEwen's willingness to open-source the prospecting process not only yielded copious quantities of gold, it introduced Goldcorp to state-of-the-art technologies and exploration methodologies, including new drilling techniques, and data collection procedures, and more advanced approaches to geological modeling. This catapulted his under-performing $100 million company into a $9 billion juggernaut while transforming a backwards mining site in Northern Ontario into one of the most innovative and profitable properties in the industry.

Õige probleem ja õigelt kavandatud auhind võivad anda fantastilisi tulemusi. Paika tuleb saada ajendid ja piisavalt täpselt määratleda lahendadatav probleem ning olla avatud pakutud lahendustele.