32. Build builders, not projects: what Helpful Engineering learned about innovation and open source

Helpful Engineering started with 19 strangers on a Reddit thread trying to solve a shortage of face masks and ventilators. Six years later, the nonprofit has mobilized more than 20,000 volunteer engineers, scientists, and makers around open source hardware.

Amish Chadha, the organization’s Chief Risk Officer, joins our host, Jason Hehman to talk about what happened next: a self described funnel of failure, a shipment of oxygen concentrators that exposed a hard lesson about supply chain visibility, and why the real goal was never building products. It was building builders, a distinction Amish comes back to near the end of the conversation and the one this episode is named for.

If you lead operations, manage supply chain risk, or want a different way to think about how organizations actually get better at solving hard problems, this one delivers.

Resources:

• Connect with Jason Hehman on LinkedIn
• Connect with Amish Chadha on LinkedIn
• Learn more about the Modern Industrialist Xchange podcast at https://txidigital.com/mix-podcast