How Much Do You Know About Harnessing the Power of the Human Cloud with TaskRabbit

8 Questions

What is DeLashea Strawder known for injecting into classrooms?

Music

What is the human cloud?

A network of people waiting to be assigned a role

Who is an expert in harnessing the human cloud?

Stacy Brown-Philpot

What did Stacy Brown-Philpot learn during her time in India?

She learned to be more flexible and to listen to her employees

What was the problem with TaskRabbit's previous bidding system for tasks?

It was exhausting for some Taskers and led to disappointment for some clients

What did TaskRabbit do to improve their process?

They allowed Taskers to set their own rates

What lesson did Stacy and her team learn during the period of revenue and user loss?

It is important to communicate with your community and treat them as owners

What did the elimination of hyper-competitive bidding lead to?

A supportive community of Taskers teaching each other skills and increasing earning power

Study Notes

DeLashea Strawder injects music into classrooms to make lessons stick.
Her catchy tunes help teach multiplication facts and syllables.
The power of an earworm can spread beyond the classroom.
The human cloud is a network of people waiting to be assigned a role, like in TaskRabbit and Uber.
The human cloud has extraordinary potential but is trickier to harness than a network of computers.
The X factor for scale is the human variable and their capacity for learning and teaching each other.
Stacy Brown-Philpot, CEO of TaskRabbit, is an expert in harnessing the human cloud.
She started the Black Googler Network to tap pools of talent who sit outside the stream of opportunities.
She learned that human judgment is necessary in society and that humans teach technology how to be smarter.
She also learned to be more flexible and to listen to her employees during her time in India.- Stacy Brown-Philpot learned that as a manager, it is important to focus on helping others be successful rather than just being successful yourself.
Humans cannot be treated like machines and organizations should focus on turning the light on inside them.
Whitney Johnson, a disruptive innovation expert, wrote a book called "Build an A-Team," which focuses on how to get the best out of employees.
Stacy joined TaskRabbit as COO after being attracted to its mission of revolutionizing everyday work.
TaskRabbit used to have a bidding system for tasks, which was exhausting for some Taskers and led to disappointment for some clients.
TaskRabbit narrowed the types of tasks and allowed Taskers to set their own rates, resulting in a more streamlined process.
However, Taskers in the US revolted against the changes because they were not informed beforehand.
Stacy and her team had to hold their nerve during the period of revenue and user loss while they waited for the new system to take hold.
The lesson here is that it is important to communicate with your community and treat them as owners rather than just consumers.
It is also important to focus on learning and development in order to avoid stagnation and keep employees engaged.TaskRabbit underwent significant changes that caused a downturn in business, but eventually yielded happier users. The elimination of hyper-competitive bidding led to a supportive community of Taskers teaching each other skills and increasing earning power. The community also identified and addressed new customer needs. The self-reinforcing loop created by the community helped everyone. TaskRabbit is working to make the app experience simpler and more accessible. The creation of good middle-class jobs is crucial to creating a better future.