Shuttleworth Fellowship Application - 2014 - Marcin Jakubowski

see also Shuttleworth Fellowship Application

Application Video

See also Script.

4 Application Questions

Describe the world as it is.

(a description of the status quo and context in which you will be working)

The world is grossly suboptimal in its development process of physical products. Addressing this is critical to making a better world because 80% of the entire global economy revolves around material production. Material production is related to the distribution of wealth and to resource conflicts. Getting physical production right has a huge potential effect on the world around us.

What change do you want to make?

(a description of what you want to change about the status quo, in the world, your personal vision for this area)

I would like to develop a protocol for Extreme Manufacturing as a viable route to decentralized production of goods. This involves a model of production where people are guided by expert guides in the production of their prosumer goods. This addresses a critical deficit of meaning that I believe comes from a disconnect between humans and their physical environment. I believe that there is a huge demand for this because all the wealth that humans enjoy today comes from sunlight, rpcks, plants, soil, water. The productive mechanism based on these raw resources is currently far removed from the average person. By closing the loop on small-scale but advanced manufacturing

What do you want to explore?

(a description of the innovations or questions you would like to explore during the fellowship year)

What are you going to do to get there?

(a description of what you actually plan to do during the year)

• Pivot Core Team to Production Education It is becoming increasingly clear that our core team should be self-supporting. So far Chris and I live by this paradigm, and Catarina intends to do the same. Complete pivot to this model can be made by linking staff work product more closely to revenue. By reframing each staff member as a Documenting Producer Educator, we allow a Producer, Educator, or Manager to generate revenue via the Production Workshops. In this model, performance evaluation is built into the core work - as success is measured directly by production earnings. We can invest in the development of Production Workshops via a Residency Program, where our interns (Dedicated Project Visitors (DPVs)) pull together with the Residency Program to take product development to the Last Mile.
• Attain Population Targets - our current target is a minimum of 12 DPVs and 3 residency participants on average for the entire year at Factor e Farm, with overflow population during summer break months. To do this, we will recruit students throughout the year, and include international students to fill in the year schedule.
• Lean the organization. This year our prototyping efficiency (cost per prototype produced) has bee. To address this, we are shifting critical functions (finances, logistics, community) to dedicated professionals, managed by an Admin Assistant and overseen by the ED. We have already identified a local accountant to fill all book keeping, accounting, and fiscal compliance at a total of about 40 hours per year. To this we add a House Manager to take care of human resource functions with our development team. Meanwhile, we are allowing longer-term contributors to self-select from a constant flow of onsite contributors. For core staff, any core staff member will be required to find and teach skills to develop a portfolio of freelancers.
• Pivot Infrastructure from Survival Architecture to World Class - We installed facility utility infrastructure, and have gotten a great success with our Microhouse build. We will build more Microhouses; summer camp housing; a recreation center, and an office/electronics workshop. Budget: $150k - house materials + infrastructure. $150k - prototyping materials; deadweight - $500/month.
• Establish Residency Program. We are starting a joint program with Catarina Mota of Everywhere Tech. We invite experts to take technologies to the last mile of development. Provide each Residency participant with a support team. Support team: (1), Documenters + graphics artists - produce language agnostic instructionals. (2) Industrial Designers - produce parallel build procedures and Parallel Fabrication Diagrams. (3) Documenters - Videographers - produce build instructionals.
• Organize on-site and off-site Extreme Manufacturing Workshops - Basic Model: one day training; one day production; one day documentation + lessons learned. Meals and housing included.
• Train apprentices for Production Workshops.
• Develop Curriculum for 2 Week Crash Training Workshops - Support Residency Program with students who gain hands-on experience in crash training courses. (1) Introduction to Module Based Design - how ~50 modules can make hundreds of different machines. (2) Introduction to CAD - how Sketchup, FreeCAD, and Python can be used in engineering design. (3) Flexible and Digital Fabrication Crash Course - hands on tool use. (4) Open Source Product Development platform - development and documentation platform for collaborative, parallel production - extreme manufacturing. (5) Business Development - taking documentation to an open enterprise model for production workshops.
• Reframe from production to documentation. Taking our products The Last Mile - the Residency Program develops documentation, which is a foundation for enterprise (production workshops).
• Reframe from 50 Machines in the GVCS to 5 Construction Sets in the GVCS. We have already shifted to Module-Based Design - with about 50 modules We have demonstrated the LifeTrac Construction Set - a lifesize LEGO set - where the same construction method was used for a tractor, backhoe, ironworker, or trencher - and We will continue this to the 21 agriculture and construction tools. Then we will do the same for: Precision Machining Construction Set; Metallurgy Construction Set; Power Electronics Construction Set; and Energy Construction Set.
• Optimize Prototype Building. We have proven that we can reduce prototyping time scales from the month to the day scale. We will continue this machine by machine.
• Address Weaknesses. Proper review has not happened to date. To address this, we will dedicate one person on a development for Study of Industry Standards, Outreach to Allied Groups, Tech Trees of Choices, and Review Requests via Facebook.
• Continue pilot projects. We have had great success with the LifeTrac 5 pilot project in New Orleans and the Microhouse build. We will continue to build these for clients.
• Documentation - We have succeeded in real-time creation of instructionals, and we are continuing that as a normal practice.'
• Define Brand Identity. - Finalize trademark.
• Clarify Critical Path - Clarified to Production Workshop Model; Residency program for Last Mile design; Crash Training Courses to support Residency clients. Restructure team ecology around production and thereby address Performance Management.