The gap between building technology and getting people to use it seems to be getting wider. So why do companies spend millions creating tools that end up gathering digital dust and so many in civil society stall out in driving sustainable impact? Jennifer Ybarra believes that even the smartest tools stall when they don’t connect with the people they’re meant to help.
How to Bridge Innovation, Adoption, and Impact
Most technology failures aren’t about bad coding or poor design. They happen because somebody built something without asking if anyone wanted it. “Most people don’t wake up asking for more technology. They’re asking for solutions, less burnout, smarter ways to work, and better ways to connect,” Ybarra explains. That’s the disconnect right there. Engineers get excited about what they can build, while users just want their problems solved. “Technology adoption doesn’t fail because it’s bad. It fails when it happens to people instead of working for them,” she points out. Think about the last time your company rolled out a new system. Did anyone ask you what would make your job easier? Probably not.
Why Good Ideas Lose Momentum
Ybarra has seen how even the best-intentioned ideas can lose momentum when adoption isn’t human-centered from the start. Too often, the focus stays on what can be built instead of who it’s for and how they will integrate into their lives. At Meta, she helped rethink fundraising into a billion-dollar online phenomenon — showing what’s possible when design-thinking and product adoption come together. In her advisory work, she brings that same lens to organizations rolling out new tools & programs, whether it’s educators adopting AI supports, community teams navigating change, or digital-native generations emerging into the workforce. The common thread: success depends less on features and more on how seamlessly people can see themselves using it.
Building Bridges Between Worlds
The real work happens in translation — speaking both languages so innovation and impact can meet in the middle. Tech teams talk in features and capabilities. Communities talk in needs and outcomes. Ybarra’s work is about serving both sides equally so they can collaborate, build trust, and drive impact together. Her role is less about choosing sides and more about creating shared understanding that makes adoption possible. “My role is to be the bridge for those worlds, to translate between innovation and impact and co-create systems, tools, and services that people can relate to and want to use,” she explains. It’s harder than it sounds. You have to understand both the technical possibilities and why people resist or adopt change.
Making Technology Matter
Here’s what Ybarra has figured out: the best technology implementations don’t feel like technology at all. They feel like someone finally understood your problem and built exactly what you needed. “Because when people feel part of the solution, technology doesn’t just get adopted, it can transform lives,” she says. That’s the difference between tools that gather dust and tools that get used. When people help shape what gets built, they want to use it. When it gets dropped on them from above, they’ll find ways around it. The organizations getting this right aren’t just seeing better adoption rates. They’re creating change that sticks around after the consultants leave and the initial excitement wears off. Ybarra’s work shows that technology can deliver on its promises, but only when it starts with understanding people first.
As technology accelerates, the next challenge is not just adoption today, but designing with the foresight to meet the needs of tomorrow’s users.
Connect with Jennifer Ybarra on LinkedIn to explore how she bridges innovation with real-world impact.
