Speaker: Niraj Swami, Founding Partner, SCAD Ventures

1. NirajSwami
GraphsforThinking

2. Thinking?
Decision-making
Inference
Prioritization
Attention
StructuredThinking

3. Marquette University | Berklee College of Music | University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Lookingforgraph-
shapedproblemsin
healthcare,human
capital&conservation.

4. Healthcare
Human Capital
Conservation
Decision
Chains
Human
Behaviors
Many
Stakeholders
Effort &
Impact
Learning

5. Whatifweapplygraphs
tobetterunderstandthese
noisysystems?

6. Graphs for Thinking
Whatkindofinsights
wouldweunravel?
Let's look at some real-world examples

7. How interconnected is an
Impact Portfolio?
Graphs for Thinking about Impact
#conservation

8. Let's take a look at a global
conservation portfolio focused
on mitigating climate change
Lizis the conservation
director of a forest
restoration project in
Argentina
Ravi is the conservation
lead for a forest
restoration project in
India
A techdonor wants todonate$50,000.
How should wedeploythesefunds?

9. Whatmightbe some localrisks,
assumptions & opportunities?
Team
Argentina
Team
India
Shouldwe use allthe funds for
work inone region?
Satellite Imageryis the "trend".
Shouldwe investinimage AI?

10. Let's break each opportunity down!
Team
Argentina
Team
India
IoT Project
Govt. &
Policy
Work
Ed Tech
Carbon
Accounting
Methods
Data
Collection
Tools
Remote
Sensing AI
Govt. &
Policy
Work
Ed Tech
Carbon
Accounting
Methods
Data
Collection
Tools
Remote
Sensing AI
Nodes => Focus
Edges => Feasibility
IoT Project

11. Graphs for Thinking about Impact
Ifwecanbetterunderstand
thenoise,efforttraps,
uncertainties&catalysts
forsystemicchange,we
canrunbetterexperiments
&makesounddecisions.

12. What are my team's
practice blindspots?
Graphs for Thinking about Risks
#healthcare

13. Today, over 40% of physicians
report signs of burnout.
Admin
Tasks
Digital
Workload
Not
getting
sued
Keeping a
good online
reputation
How might wehelp our healthcare
heroes navigatethesepracticerisks?

14. Identifyingthetrapsoflinearity
Risks emerge when we ignore effects of effects
Burnout
Digital
Workload
Patient-
specific
Tasks
Mindfulness
habits
Delegation &
Teamwork
Reading &
Research
Nodes => Habits
Edges => Dependence

15. Focusingonmulti-orderdependencies
Patient-
specific
Tasks
Mindfulness
habits
Delegation &
Teamwork
Reading &
Research
Evolves with the
dynamic practice
Personalized for
each teammate
Factors into the
user experience

16. Alerting risky habits from practice data

17. Graphs for Thinking about Risks
Attentionisascarce
commodity.Graphshelp
usdrawfocustothatone
multi-ordereffectthat
affectsourrisksthemost.

18. Where are we headed...

19. Graph-shapedthinking

20. Exploring graph-powered algorithms
for day-to-day structured thinking Flagging key assumptions
Clustering multi-order risks
Identifying focus areas
Assessing attention
Detecting distractions

21. Niraj Swami | @nswami | //scad.ai
Thankyou