Strategies for Leveraging Crowds

Linus Dahlander and Henning Piezunka 

Crowds can be very effective, but that is not always the case. To actually render the usage of crowds effective, several factors need to be aligned: crowd composition, the right question at the right time, and the right analytic method applied to the responses. Specific skills are mandatory to tap into the creativity of a crowd, harness it effectively and transform it into offers that markets value.  
The “DBAS” framework is recommended to successfully implement a crowd project. It consists of four stages, and in each phase some key questions need to be addressed. Each decision along the DBAS pathway matters and how you navigate each stage can either reinforce or undermine decisions made at the other stages. The right degree of innovativeness, listening to contributors and informing participants openly about the fate of rejected ideas are key success factors that require special attention. To continually improve the odds of success, crowdsourcing should best be treated as a continual iterative churn.