212
10 The Economy 4.0
Fig. 10.1 Illustration of
classical hierarchical
top-down organization
10.12 Allowing Diverse Resources to Come Together
Quickly
Let us now explore how modern information systems can allow top-down and bottomup organization to come together in order to create new and superior forms of organization. In this context, it is instructive to examine the example of disaster response
management, which has traditionally been executed from the top-down. But recently
my perspective on the efficacy of the traditional approach has dramatically changed,
namely when I helped organize a hackathon in San Francisco together with Thomas
Maillart, Alexei Pozdnoukhov and Swissnex.
34 The aim was to discover new ways
to recover from earthquakes. Even though the event took place on the National Day
of Civic Hacking and was therefore competing with a lot of other hackathons, it
attracted about 80 people. Obviously, the event hit a nerve. Participants formed nine
teams, each of which dealt with a specific project idea. The results established a
new paradigm of disaster response management, facilitated by modern information
systems.
First, let us discuss the traditional approach: there, a commander instructs his
chiefs of staff what to do, and they relay these instructions to their subordinates,
who carry out the orders (see Fig. 10.1). However, during a disaster, the flow of
information is often not smooth and the chain of command is often interrupted.
This might be caused by a lack of information, disturbances, delays, or resource
constraints. In fact, it often takes 72 h until disaster response units can work at full
capacity. Sadly, within that time many people will have already died from injuries
or from dehydration.
In contrast, when using modern information systems, some autonomy on lower
levels can achieve better results. My conclusion from the hackathon is that it is better
if commanders draw up and publicize a set of specific macro goals (“we need x
34 What if the Big One Hits? Hacking Earthquake Resilience, see https://www.swissnexsanfran
cisco.org/event/earthquakeresilience/, https://www.swissnexsanfrancisco.org/press/latest-news/ear
thquakehackathon/.
10 The Economy 4.0
Fig. 10.1 Illustration of
classical hierarchical
top-down organization
10.12 Allowing Diverse Resources to Come Together
Quickly
Let us now explore how modern information systems can allow top-down and bottomup organization to come together in order to create new and superior forms of organization. In this context, it is instructive to examine the example of disaster response
management, which has traditionally been executed from the top-down. But recently
my perspective on the efficacy of the traditional approach has dramatically changed,
namely when I helped organize a hackathon in San Francisco together with Thomas
Maillart, Alexei Pozdnoukhov and Swissnex.
34 The aim was to discover new ways
to recover from earthquakes. Even though the event took place on the National Day
of Civic Hacking and was therefore competing with a lot of other hackathons, it
attracted about 80 people. Obviously, the event hit a nerve. Participants formed nine
teams, each of which dealt with a specific project idea. The results established a
new paradigm of disaster response management, facilitated by modern information
systems.
First, let us discuss the traditional approach: there, a commander instructs his
chiefs of staff what to do, and they relay these instructions to their subordinates,
who carry out the orders (see Fig. 10.1). However, during a disaster, the flow of
information is often not smooth and the chain of command is often interrupted.
This might be caused by a lack of information, disturbances, delays, or resource
constraints. In fact, it often takes 72 h until disaster response units can work at full
capacity. Sadly, within that time many people will have already died from injuries
or from dehydration.
In contrast, when using modern information systems, some autonomy on lower
levels can achieve better results. My conclusion from the hackathon is that it is better
if commanders draw up and publicize a set of specific macro goals (“we need x
34 What if the Big One Hits? Hacking Earthquake Resilience, see https://www.swissnexsanfran
cisco.org/event/earthquakeresilience/, https://www.swissnexsanfrancisco.org/press/latest-news/ear
thquakehackathon/.