YOUR OFFICIAL RASPBERRY PI MAGAZINE

Column
THE FINAL WORD
MATT RICHARDSON
Matt is Raspberry Pi’s US-based product evangelist. Before
that, he was co-author of Getting Started with Raspberry Pi
and a contributing editor at Make: magazine.
A
MEANINGFUL
MISSION
Matt Richardson on Raspberry Pi’s success:
guided by a mission and supported by a community…
I
recently had the incredible opportunity to
tour NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center
right before the launch of two Raspberry Pis
to the International Space Station for our Astro Pi
competition. While there, I attended a briefing by
Robert Cabana, the Center’s director. Before taking
that position, Mr Cabana was an astronaut, logging
38 days in space over four different Shuttle missions,
including the first International Space Station
assembly mission in 1998.
When he spoke to us, Mr Cabana talked about why
NASA is so successful as an organisation. One of the
main reasons he gave is that they have a meaningful
mission and single common vision: “We reach for
new heights and reveal the unknown for the benefit
of humankind.” According to Mr Cabana, everyone
at NASA is doing their part to make a difference
for humanity.
I had an amazing experience seeing all the work
underway at Kennedy Space Center, but I especially
liked hearing Mr Cabana talk about the importance of
a meaningful mission. It really resonated with me and
got me thinking about the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s
mission. A major part of the success of Raspberry Pi
as a computer is because of Raspberry Pi’s mission
as a charity.
Making inexpensive computers like the Raspberry
Pi is part of what our Foundation does, but the why
is even more important and is what makes us so
unique. We’ve set out to use computers to inspire
and empower the next generation. We want to see
all people – especially the young – learn about how
computers work, learn how to code, and learn how to
make things with computers. Creating an affordable
computer is just one of many ways that we succeed in
that mission.
For those of us who work at Raspberry Pi, this
mission is critical to us. It’s our North Star, guiding us
and ensuring that we’re all working towards the same
goal. It informs our choices, from the littlest details to
the big strategic decisions.
For what I do, a meaningful mission is especially
helpful. I work in San Francisco, in a time zone that’s
eight hours behind my colleagues at Pi Towers in
Cambridge, UK. Although we have some incredible
communication tools at our disposal, it’s helpful for
me to be able to make decisions independently after
my colleagues across the pond have gone to bed.
Those decisions that I make are very much guided
by our mission.
It’s not just the people that work for Raspberry Pi who
help to advance this mission: it’s also you, the members
of our community. If you’ve bought a Raspberry Pi,
you’ve helped to advance the Foundation’s mission.
If you’ve ordered a subscription to The MagPi, you’ve
helped to advance the Foundation’s mission. If you tell
someone about Raspberry Pi, if you answer a question
in the forum, if you share what you’ve made with Pi,
if you get a young person excited about computers,
you’ve helped to advance the Foundation’s mission.
We wouldn’t have such a strong impact without such
passionate support from our community members,
many of whom go to great lengths to put the power
of computing in the hands of others.
I’m sure that most of you already knew that
when you buy a Raspberry Pi, you’re not just buying
a product like any other. You’re endorsing and
supporting our charitable mission. All of us at the
Raspberry Pi Foundation deeply appreciate that
support. While we may not be doing anything quite
on NASA’s scale, all of us, like them, are working
together to make a difference for humanity.
96 January 2016
raspberrypi.org/magpi