The people of Oklahoma are legendary for our unbreakable work ethic, and our resourcefulness. Today, we’re taking a giant technological leap forward to help fuel Oklahoma’s next economic prosperity landscape; the technology industry. But every potential reward comes with risk, and the key to innovation may not be to work as hard as we would believe is necessary. Inc. Magazine published an article called The Key to Success, which says, in part:
When you are trying to innovate and create new opportunity, it is important to be able to step back to see the big picture. Sometimes, it is only when you’ve stepped back and stopped thinking about the problems you’re trying to solve that you can see things from a new perspective.
The article credits inattention blindness, a condition described as the “psychological lack of attention that is not associated with any vision defects or deficits. It may be further defined as the event in which an individual fails to recognize an unexpected stimulus that is in plain sight.” In common terms, people often say, “You’re too close to the problem.”
Our new project seeks to remove inattention blindness by bringing thousands of on-lookers to each and every challenge. While it is possible for one person to propose a challenge and solution, it is far more likely that a citizen’s challenge will be met with several solutions, and the best ideas will “gain steam” and rise to the top.
DID YOU KNOW: Charles Babbage (a mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer) created designs for a mechanical computer that was to be steam-powered?
This way, walking the tightrope of innovation won’t be as risky for the teams we hope will be most involved: the public, the tech community, and Oklahoma government.
Daniel Hanttula was a speaker at GovLoop’s 5th Annual “Government Innovators Virtual Summit” on April 20, 2016, and was featured in the “State and Local Workforce” guide for Protecting Cyberspace in a Disaster. He has written articles on innovation for the “How to Succeed at Government Project Management” handbook, authored six books and hundreds of articles.
