The ten Discovery Award teams are in the final stretch of submitting their applications for the next phase of the Global Surgical Training Challenge — the Finalist Awards. Three to five teams will each receive up to $500,000 USD to continue developing their original surgical training module.

The current teams have worked hard to develop and refine their modules with the help of mentors from our partners at the Royal College of Surgery in Ireland, as well as workshops hosted by MIT Solve and Appropedia, where the modules are uploaded.

During the Prototype Showcase, team members shared some of the lessons they have learned throughout this process. There were striking similarities between what these international teams shared and what may be considered best practices from the world of tech start-ups.

Have a plan

To design the prototypes, the teams needed to move from their initial idea to a more structured plan. The modules that the teams have uploaded to Appropedia follow a common structure and logical flow. Having a framework helps organise complex ideas or steps that will be easier for users to follow, but it also helps to organise teams’ tasks.

As much as people are anxious to start building the modules, it is a wise investment of time and effort to agree upon the objectives of the module. The teams defined the specific skills they were teaching as well as the knowledge needed to lay the foundation toward learning those skills. Having a consensus around these objectives can help contextualise any issues or questions that come up during the development phase.

Remain flexible

We all know that the best laid plans do not always work out as intended. Flexibility and agility are essential capabilities for any team that is designing a solution for others. 

Many start-ups have failed because they did not fully understand the problem they were trying to solve. Perhaps they were solving only part of the problem, rather than taking a systems view of the need.  In some cases, they fell in love with a solution and then went in search of a problem, creating a product not built for purpose. 

Designing an end-to-end solution takes into account the entire environment under which it will be used. Taking the time to speak with the expected users, to understand their needs and how they think about the problem will yield insights that innovators can use in the design of their solution.

Listen to your customer

The most effective way to design a tool that will likely be adopted by your constituents is to invite them to actively test prototypes in their natural environments. This will take testing one step further by allowing teams to co-create and build with their end users. 

In the Global Surgical Training Challenge, each team has at least one surgical practitioner who understands the protocols and procedures necessary to complete the surgery successfully. To go beyond this hands-on expertise, teams can refine the learning modules based on the experience of users in low- and middle-income settings.

Building with end users gives teams the opportunity to iterate quickly, discovering and recovering from problems early on.

Diversify perspectives

The Discovery Award teams are diverse in language, culture, and perspectives. They also have members with different specialties and skill sets, which results in different approaches to solving problems. While it can sometimes be frustrating to find common language, including professional terminology, the richness of diverse inputs can result in a more comprehensive result.

Emphasize communication

The dynamics of working with diverse teams highlights the importance of good, clear communication. Not only does the person communicating have a responsibility to ensure the others can understand them, but listeners also have an obligation to explore and clarify questions.

Team leaders should facilitate communication among the members, particularly between the clinicians and the technologists who are building the tool. Each may have a different perspective or way of approaching a problem and finding a common language for addressing challenges is the first step in bridging those differences.

Customise solutions to the setting

The emphasis throughout the Global Surgical Training Challenge has been on low and middle income settings, which may vary widely from one community to the next. For example, a rural clinic may not have access to certain components to assemble a simulator. 

Our teams have developed a deep understanding of the situations in which their training modules may be used. This includes the available resources, physical space constraints, Internet access, and other variables. 

Stay focused

At the panel session, on the role of so-called “low-tech” and “high tech” the panelists shared insights on the importance of starting at a common denominator of what is accessible by the intended users. High tech solutions are often, by nature, more complex. Starting with a simpler prototype provides opportunities to expand and add features later. 

Learn from mentors

The Global Surgical Training Challenge teams benefitted from a comprehensive, structured mentorship program from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Even innovators who are not part of the Challenge should look for mentors in their own fields, and learn from others’ experiences in design thinking, teamwork, and other critical skills.

Although the Global Surgical Training Challenge is not aiming to create new start-ups, there are many lessons that diverse teams of innovators can learn from successful, and even failed, start-ups.

Read more about the Discovery Award teams here.