LSI Bulletin
February 13, 2018
The 4 Types of Innovation and the Problems They Solve
Thinking about thinking innovatively to solve some of the problems we face in education...
One of the best innovation stories I’ve ever heard came to me from a senior executive at a leading tech firm. Apparently, his company had won a million-dollar contract to design a sensor that could detect pollutants at very small concentrations underwater. It was an unusually complex problem, so the firm set up a team of crack microchip designers, and they started putting their heads together.
About 45 minutes into their first working session, the marine biologist assigned to their team walked in with a bag of clams and set them on the table. Seeing the confused looks of the chip designers, he explained that clams can detect pollutants at just a few parts per million, and when that happens, they open their shells.
As it turned out, they didn’t really need a fancy chip to detect pollutants — just a simple one that could alert the system to clams opening their shells. “They saved $999,000 and ate the clams for dinner,” the executive told me.
That, in essence, is the value of open innovation. When you have a really tough problem, it often helps to expand skill domains beyond specialists in a single field.
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How do we build OUR portfolio to help in solving the problems of our districts?
MiExcel Webinar and Updates
February Unit Meeting Agenda
1) Welcome/Connector
2) Share Out regarding MSIFN - Marie
3) State and Federal Programs - Jan
4) District Centric Services and Survey (bring devices) - 20 Minutes
5) The Future of School Improvement - Carol
6) Book Study - Marty
Reminder:
There are still two more studio times if anyone needs them!
· February 14th, 2018- 1:00PM to 4:00PM - Conference Room C
· February 16th, 2018 - 9:00AM to 12:00PM - Room 205A
Some New and Old Items
Old: As I believe in being a good steward of our taxpayers money, the PA's and I have been reviewing our budgets on a regular basis. One item that has arisen is a higher than expected cost in our printing budget. We have had some accounting errors due to our account number being switched with Culture/Climate which may be the cause. We have requested the printout as to who is printing from each budget to help us identify the source of the discrepancy and "right the ship". In the meantime, as a reminder, printing from the copy machines is MUCH more expensive than sending work over to the Printshop - please be sure that you are sending all projects over to Printshop. Our local machine should only be used for single or small number copies needed for immediate use.
Old: We are a large organization that serves the needs of both our internal stakeholders and our districts. In order to ensure that the Printshop is able to process your request you must submit your printing to them two weeks in advance. Please keep the two week deadline in mind for all resources and supports as you are planning for an event. Although both the PA's and Printshop do their best to support last minute requests, it is important to consider that many factors can impact their ability to do so including snow days, flu season, life events, unit projects, and other projects that are being supported throughout the organization. They do their best to schedule their workload carefully to ensure everyone's needs are met and may be unable to support any unplanned work that does not meet the two week deadline.