Reuben welcomed back students to the final term of the academic year this week with a fantastic and interactive Tuesday Talks/Dining with Dinosaurs about workarounds, delivered by Professor Paolo Savaget. This is a timely topic for one of the busiest and most pressured points in the calendar. I hoped that, by attending, I would become better prepared to do the same amount of work I currently do, but in less time by finding workarounds.
Professor Savaget’s joint position between the Department of Engineering and the Saïd Business School meant that he had a unique insight into how clever tricks can help combat seemingly intractable problems, and lead to world-changing entrepreneurial developments.
The evening started with a short discussion on the myriad challenges that faced distribution of lifesaving diarrhoeal medicine in Zambia: population density, transport, and many others besides. This was a complex problem – one with many root causes. Solving it would clearly require changes such as forcing people to live closer to each other and building high speed train lines.
The Workarounds
Fortunately, someone had already come up with a workaround - to use the existing distribution network of something found nearly everywhere within the country: Coca-Cola. Thus, we were introduced to the first of four kinds of workaround: the piggyback. This is using infrastructure that already exists to get around difficulties and achieve your goals.
Our journey continued to the second workaround: the loophole. Selective application of laws, working to their letter rather than their spirit. One of the examples here was Uber. To not be subject to regulations governing taxis, Uber declared itself a rideshare service, allowing its drivers to undercut established operators. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, but isn’t a duck, it might be your Uber!
Next, we heard about repurposing existing resources. Rainforest Connection has taken waste mobile phones, hooked them up to solar panels for power, attached them to trees in Borneo, then used this network to listen for sounds of illegal logging, allowing rangers to identify where it’s happening and act rapidly.
Finally, we heard about the roundabout workaround: how to utilise or break self-reinforcing feedback loops. To prevent (half of) the public from urinating on their walls, an apparently common and acceptable act, canny residents in Delhi put up pictures of Hindu gods. No-one wants to pass water onto a god, not even Varuna, the God of Water. As such, the walls became cleaner.
Discussion
We then enjoyed some fabulous noodles, before a group discussion on workarounds that we’ve seen or already employ in our own lives. Personally, I like to exercise but often struggle to fit it in to busy days. By cycling to most places, I incorporate it as a regular part of my day that I don’t have to think about. It also gave me the bonus of finishing off the evening’s delightful cake totally guilt-free.
What about my workload? Have I freed up more time? I’ve certainly re-thought how I was looking at complicated problems, but unfortunately this has only led to me planning different experiments, not fewer! Whether they’re better or not… ask me in a month.
