The Progress Economy

What we’re thinking

Capabilities – like knowledge, skills, availability, strength etc – are fundamental to making progress.

Resources – like employees, systems, locations, time – carry capabilities. Some resources are operand – need acting upon for progress to be made – others operant – act on other resources in order to make progress.

Different resources, or collections of, can carry the same capability

Why this matters

Progress is made through progress-making activities. These are where capabilities are applied to other capabilities, ie in acts of resource integration.

A lack of capability for a particular progress attempt is the foundational progress hurdle; it is the reason why progress propositions – bundles of supplemental capabilities carried by a proposition specific resource mix – exist.

Capabilities are unevenly distributed across economic actors – this is why progress propositions are offered; Progress Helpers are looking for service exchange to make progress they can’t in return for offering to help a progress seeker make progress they can’t.

Since different resources can carry the same capability, they can be swapped. This, together with the distinction between operant and operand resources, powers innovation in the resource mix of propositions, and is behind why propositions sit at different positions on the enabling-relieving continuum