Moonshot thinking: practical strategies for transforming ideas and data into actionable projects
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Whether you're an integral part of a disease foundation, immersed in academic research, or spearheading new developments in life sciences industry- this article is for you.
Often, you're faced with an immense challenge- to achieve "moonshots", or in other words, to transform ambitious visions into tangible realities.
It can seem daunting, and the risk of accomplishing very little while chasing extraordinarily high goals is a genuine concern.
Yet, the medical field is replete with complex problems that demand nothing less than successful moonshots.
While moonshot thinking is often associated simply with ambitious goal-setting, there is a deeper, often overlooked aspect that has transformative power.
At its core, moonshot thinking is a collaborative strategy, diligently working to transmute the raw materials of ideas and data into tangible actions.
Moonshot thinking is a unique approach to collaboration and innovation, that is best exemplified by the results of a meeting which was purposefully structured in a different way.
It was purposefully structured to start with short presentation followed by a a discussion the specific intent of which was to come away with plans for efforts based on those ideas.
The question was: Would it work?
The meeting was attended by dozens of researchers and focusing on CT scan data within the U-BIOPRED cohort dataset.
The Real Excitement Began After the Presentation
A lively discussion emerged around the fact that nobody had yet simultaneously considered the multi-omics data in conjunction with the CT scan data. These moments of insight, sparked by post-presentation dialogue, are common.
But how to transform those insights into some form of concrete delivery?
At the end of the discussion a straightforward plan was developed to initiate a low resource effort, a sort of pilot or exploratory project.
Existing data would be examined comparing CT scan data with molecular profiling.
Cultivating enthusiasm
In all collaborative research endeavors, there are typically three inflection points when enthusiasm and energy notably surge.
First, when a fresh, innovative idea is presented; second, when a solid, executable plan is devised to realize this idea; and third, when tangible results begin to emerge from the efforts.
The first two inflection points were reached during that meeting.
The third shortly followed as the plan was simple and low resource - perform an analysis on existing data and therefore it rapidly led to tangible results.
With some structured follow up, the plan moved forward. The subsequent discussions even spawned new ideas which led to additional low resource efforts.
Enthusiasm and engagement inflection points
The tangible result was a manuscript that has subsequently been submitted for publication. More importantly it led to the genesis of new line of research in one of the labs of the involved investigators.
So, this different kind of meeting did work. This is not the first time I had seen moonshot thinking at work.
The ERS SHARP CRC which is now a thriving federated analysis platform was initially met with skepticism or rather lukewarm enthusiasm.
In that project we helped develop a simple low resource effort which was called the ‘fast mover’ project. The idea was to run a simple federated analysis just by asking everyone to send summary statistics from their own registry.
Once the results were available, and there were unexpected findings the enthusiasm for building a federated analysis platform rose palpably. A result that propelled SHARP to becoming the platform it is today.
Interaction makes data valuable
There are a lot of people making the case for open data, but open data on its own is anemic without an infusion of structured interaction of a group of diverse disciplines and stakeholders.
CT scan data of the U-BIOPRED lay fallow until the interaction that day led to a plan for a low resource effort that demonstrated what was possible. In SHARP the interaction in the ‘fast-mover’ project brought data, or rather analyses together.
Making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable (FAIR) is important. The FAIR acronym however is missing an ‘i’ for the most important ingredient to getting the most value out of data - interaction.
Why is this important?
These two instances demonstrate moonshot thinking. They illustrate how the right kind of interaction, collective thinking and pooled efforts, has massive effects on driving the level of collaboration necessary to achieve ambitious goals.
In our era of abundant data and samples, such opportunities are increasingly typical. However, without the right approach to capture and develop these ideas, many potentially transformative ideas might never be actualized.
The thing is how to foster such interaction is not self evident. Here are four practical strategies for transforming ideas and data into actionable projects:
Four Practical Strategies
1. Have an action bias.
There are plenty meetings and opportunities to exchange ideas. What happens less is taking action on those ideas.
The chance to work on various ideas with others is vital. Don't shy away from low-resource exploratory efforts that might lead to something bigger
It is easy to pass over engaging in a simple analysis or building a standard operating procedure (SOP), or writing an outline of questions to ask regulators. If you don’t see how those projects are going to lead to the big paper, its sensible to rationalize that you should focus on other efforts.
The thing is those types of projects are investments in the future. They are building relationships. They are also a way to test many different ideas with minimal effort.
Working with others outside your organization is the essence of open innovation. The real value of open innovation is not the opportunity to combine resources on a single idea. It is being able to combine resources so that many different ideas can be tested in parallel.
Just like the SHARP CRC’s fast mover project, taking action even if you think the outcome of that action will be of minimal interest works to build momentum. It builds up the trust needed to tackle a bigger project and push for a moonshot.
2. Amplify others' ideas.
Instead of trying to enforce your perspective, focus on adding to the other’s ideas. Prioritize additive thinking ('and') over alternative thinking ('or').
You see the opposite of this in meetings all the time. Instead of listening to what the person who is talking is saying, some in attendance are thinking about what to say next to next for their own idea. When they speak up, it has nothing to do with what was just said.
Taking action on ideas requires a coming together. The best way to come together is to listen and consider how you can add to the ideas of others.
Cultivating burstiness
In a fascinating TED podcast Adam Grant who is an organizational psychologist goes behind the scenes of The Daily Show. WorkLife with Adam Grant: The Daily Show's secret to creativity | TED Talk The Daily Show if you do not know it is a popular US news satire show.
The challenge the writers and the on screen talent face is that they have to create relevant and funny content everyday. This is done as a group. One of the first features of that group interaction that Grant highlights is 'burstiness'.
Yes that is a term. It is a term used in organizational psychology. It is considered a feature of high performance teams in crowd sourcing. Effective crowdsourcing teams communicate in bursts.
Grant describes how during one of the writer groups meetings on the Daily Show there are moments of burstiness where everyone seems to be spewing out new ideas in rapid succession.
Think of it as that moment in a meeting or any conversation when people sit up and move forward in their seat or jump up and come up to the white board. The discussion follows a rapid pace with everyone adding ideas. It flows as if everyone saying and then we could do this and this means we could also do that which would open up the possibility to do this other thing. Its what people love about brainstorming. Its when ideas come together and new ideas emerge out of that convergence.
It is very much akin to the principle that underlies all good improvisational comedy. "Yes, and.." If during a improve skit someone says "no, but..' it shuts down the creative chain of the improv and it won't reach the level of unexpected creative humor that a good improve session has the potential to reach. When you see 'burstiness' you know that you have got something. Often though, once the meeting ends the value of the burstiness is lost.
The best way to avoid such loss, is to propose a project you can do together. Think of something that at first will not take a lot of effort, like repeating their analysis on your data or even just creating the outline a bigger project.
3. Develop a key result driven, minimal effort plan.
Whether it is at the end of a period of ‘burstiness’ or in any other setting action generally only happens when there is a plan. But, there is a risk.
The risk is that you will want to create a plan where you try to do too much. Its not that you don’t want to be ambitious. You should aim high and act small. Resist the urge to continually add more.
Instead, focus on achieving a specific result with the least amount of effort. Achievements create momentum.
A low resource effort or fast mover project can create the next step you need to move towards the impact you are trying to achieve.
You can always create a key result driven, minimal effort plan by answering these five questions:
What is the key result you want to achieve?
What is the current status?
What are the challenges?
What are the questions you need to answer?
And, how will it get done - the plan?
Key results are meaningful changes that act as stepping stones to achieving a bigger outcomes, moonshots and ultimately impact.
4. Task someone to make connections.
Identifying and building up relationships between different stakeholders, projects, and trends can foster the growth of passing ideas into something truly impactful.
This is best done by someone who has knowledge across different projects and even different disease domains.
The connector can push forward the testing of ideas which then helps build the relationships and trust, the social capital needed to do bigger and more impactful projects. This person should be focused on doing what is best to improve collaboration. They should be somewhat neutral.
Just making the connection is usually not enough. Its best to connect with the intent to develop with a minimal effort plan for achieving a key result or two.
An example of moonshot thinking in action
One of the best examples of moonshot thinking in action comes from again the SHARP CRC.
As mentioned before SHARP had developed a culture of fast mover projects - minimal effort plans. What also was typical in SHARP was dialogue between stakeholders and a constant vigilance for connections.
SHARP had set out with a moonshot to bring together data from different severe asthma registries from across Europe. Already a tough task for the 10 existing registries, it was truly a moonshot to have registries in any of the other countries, but that is exactly what happened.
The idea of creating a foundation to maintain some of SHARPs assets and using an licensing deal that allowed an eCRF to be setup across countries an minimal cost were both discussed in a meeting in the context of separate topics. Then the connection was made and 12 countries that did not have a registry were rapidly on their way to being part of what was a harmonised and centralised registry that was housed within a foundation.
So, in the end instead of a federated analysis platform with 10 registries, SHARP includes than 25 registries from all across Europe (1).
It happened because of moonshot thinking. The meetings of the executive group were run with an action bias, they built upon each others ideas, they looked for connections and as mentioned before SHARP was built around a ‘fast-mover’ project - a low resource minimal effort plan.
Conclusion
Sonal Chokshi illustrates nicely how it is easy to excuse yourself from moonshot thinking:
“We relegate the big thinking to someone else or some other organization instead, playing a weird kind of “not it” game.
The small companies and startups think moonshots are a big-company thing because it takes a ton of money and resources, which they don’t have.
The big companies think it’s a small-company behavior because it takes a ton of risk tolerance, which they think they can’t afford.
Government organizations are under pressure to show immediate results on pressing, “popular” problems, so the longer term visions are hard to justify funding.
And while academics love expansive, long-term thinking, their job is to publish the ideas and spread them, but not to do the system building itself. They can describe moonshots, but they don't think it's their job to take them on.” (2)
However, if we redefine moonshot thinking to include the execution of minimal effort plans, it becomes clear that this strategy isn't exclusively for the ample-resourced, the high-risk tolerant, or the long-term visionary — it's a strategy accessible to all.
Moonshot thinking, in this context, is about pursuing low-resource yet highly-impactful plans, leveraging the power of collaboration to transform ideas into action — irrespective of the size, resources or nature of your organization. When we understand moonshot thinking like this, we realize it can lead anyone, anywhere, to their own lunar landing.
Eager to unlock the full potential of life sciences consortium projects?
When you are ready let's discuss how moonshot thinking could spur your next breakthrough. We help disease foundations, academia, and industry strive for moonshots with strategic meeting facilitation and consortium projects.
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References
1) Kroes JA, Alfonso-Cristancho R, Bansal AT, et al. Evaluation of Real-World Mepolizumab Use in Severe Asthma across Europe - the SHARP experience with privacy-preserving federated analysis. ERJ Open Res 2023; in press (https://doi.org/10.1183/23120541.00745-2022)
2) Choksi, S. Google X Head on Moonshots: 10X Is Easier Than 10 Percent, WIRED Feb 11 2013 Google X Head on Moonshots: 10X Is Easier Than 10 Percent | WIRED
