The micro-oriented approach is the idea that poor people benefit more when you generate opportunities that are small in scale and low in technology — within reach of those without formal education. It is the conceptual core of the book project, Small Steps. The approach has roots in mid-twentieth-century development thought (Schumacher, intermediate technology) but has been almost wholly absent from mainstream development practice since the 1960s. The fullest exposition of the idea so far appears in the essay series collected under Writing.