Posted by Leo G Henton at 5/13/08 1:28 p.m.

Is there any possibility of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation extending a courtesy of an announced initial sub-process for concerned citizens and fellow philanthropist to express themselves in the format of an informal electronic drop-box for informal discussion of unsolicited ideas that align with the stated goals of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?

I realize there could be considerable volume and churn, but if ground rules are established (aka., an open informal "peer review" within the social community at-large) it would be a process improvement in several regards. It could be an initial step (of several) that would be an open collaborative effort on-line between folks external to (and perhapes internal monitoring by) the Foundation to flesh out some ideas. Of course, I'm not suggesting anything to replace any existing process. Rather, I'm suggesting a possible supplementary pre-process.

Presently, the public face of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a bit of a unidirectional, monolithic "authority" that runs counter to established reference literature.

In specific, I'm aware of a small team of folks that as individuals that are looking at 30,000 or 40,000 miles of travel (per person) and a lag time of 8 to 12 months just to get the fine folks in downtown Seattle to (hypothetically) offer the time of day (a brief audience). At present we are looking at informal peer review in semi-public in Seattle August 2008, formal presentation in academic conference before 300 peers from around the world (government education ministery advisors, practicioners of "Theory of Constraints", etc.) in person October 5, 2008 in Warsaw, Poland just to build a global coalition to gang up on (motivate, inspires) the Americans just to get the (hypothetical) (possibility of) time of day (a brief audience) in perhaps January 2009 (unconfirmed).

As value investors, certainly folks are aware of the term "Opportunity Cost". Time is money and we are concerned the window of opportunity to address mutual opoortunites / concerns of several diverse communities of Customers extends only about 24 to 36 months in duration (for launch of the the focused dialogue and effort). In USA we are see an opportunity to serve under-represented populations, including new residents as physical school capacity is consolidated. Would like to convert a small portion of securities into physical assests as they are shed by Public School districts. Anticipate benign lease arrangements to retrun to public schools in year 2060 when two generations of natural leaders are educated world-wide. We see mutual opportunity for all nations to consider participation so that lessons and instruction is available in 100 languages of the 6000 languages on Earth. Anticipate auto-assistants for instructors to narrow the batch size of process, hopefully to individual instruction some day. Want to aim for the ideal thru-put.

In essence, many of the current process's date from the year 1890. Many of the elements of current process's (from 1890) remain valid, but technological tools have not been inserted effectively to date to optimize the thru-put.

Today, there is a much greater detailed understanding of internal human brain process's. Let's use that knowledge in structuring the outline of process's.

The business plan in discussion by the TOCforEducation(dot)com folks looks solid. The global political scene (external to the USA) looks excellent. The (over) confident attitude of American institutions does not appear to be based in reality.

We anticipate a collaborative, agile, process of team-building ... not a lecture ... not a sermon ... not a rant. Given that as systems become more complex, the greater the return of process improvements centered around human relationships. In other words, technology is a tool (to facilitate human relationships).

We are recoginizing the principles of AmericasPromise(dot)org (Retired General Colin Powell, former Secretary of State), 2MillionMinutes (Richard Compton), Performance is the Best Politics (Mayor Grahem Richards of Fort Wayne, Indiana), Theory of Constraints, Lean, Six-Sigms, Engineer2020, National Science Foundation (NSF), National Academies, etc. We clearly recognize the retro academic works of Dr. W. Deming, Dr. Russell L. Ackoff, Dr. Eli Goldratt, Dr. Edward de Bono, Dr. James R. Holt (WSU-Vancouver), David Dodd, Benjamin Grahem, etc. Their works have been validated by consistent and numerous empherical studies and demonstrated, documented results in various industries (mostly non-American). In quantitative terms, ROI (Retun on Investment) + 30% minumum gets a person's attention.

In conjuction with the feasible implementation of Semantic Technology, Visual Knowledge, assessment of Technology Readiness Levels (TRL's), Internet2 (intra-exclusive to education), Program Management in a multi-project environment, Theory of Constraints, Lean, Lean+, Six-Sigma, continuous process improvement, etc. the demonstrated success in emerging vibrant educational communities and economies such as Maylasia reallly merits review and transparent consideration .... aka, elevation to the decision makers.

Anyway, Best regards to the folks at the various sub-groups within the Foundation. Best wishes for the (continued) success of Mr. Jeff Raikes and the team of hundreds. Let's work togehter as (unpaid) volunteers for a framework for a better Earth for all of humanity.