Reflections from the Catalyst Definition Programme
As we come to the end of the programme, We Are Open has spent a little time thinking about what the last ten weeks has meant for us as digital partners. As ever, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind, helping and encouraging organisations to get so much done in such a short space of time!
As part of the reflection process, we asked our charity cohort what their ‘Two Stars and a Wish’ would be of the overall programme:
- What are two things that have gone well for you in this programme?
- What’s one thing that you wish had been better/different?
This post gives a flavour of the overarching themes from their answers.
Personal and Professional Development
“The Definition programme has given me confidence to start the journey as my organisation’s digital lead. During the programme I have been focussing on one service, but It has provided a whole bank of resources and tools to apply to different areas of my charity going forwards. It has taught me the value of a step by step approach.”
— Samantha Howlett, Kent Coast Volunteering
Our charities wrote that the last ten weeks have taught them new skills, new tools, new methods and a new way to see digital project and product management.
It’s been really useful to see a broader view of digital product management, I’ve learned about some great new resources and workflows.
— Tam Wernham, Totnes Churches
People were excited about being up-skilled in collaboration and processes. Perhaps most importantly, several charities specifically mentioned that the Definition Programme helped them develop confidence for their organisations digital transformation endeavours.
Network and connection
“Looking deeper in to personas than I ever had before which really opened my eyes to the fact we don’t have just one user group”
— Zoe Crimes, Pennysmart CIC
Having a view into what other charitable organisations were doing and learning from one another was another highlight for our cohort, as well as for us. In our current world, it’s easy to forget that there so much great work happening and that people are passionate and engaged about helping other people. We worked to give each other positive and motivating feedback and to serve as a sounding board for the variety of challenges that occur in digital transformation projects.
“Building up a set of tools that we can use for other projects going forwards… we now have these processes (and hindsight!) now to use over longer periods of time in the future.”
— Stuart Barlow, Citizens Advice NE Derbyshire
Charities in our cohort learned that centring user needs and developing prototypes for new ideas is a great way to scale back. They’ve recognised that using versioning and making things better incrementally is the best way to approach large-scale problems.
Working openly
“[One thing that went well] Sharing our work in the Open. The tools and software we have used and how you changed the schedule to suit us (that’s three!)”
— Harriet Hathaway, Worcester Cathedral
Everyone wrote something about how working openly had fundamentally changed the way they see “work”. This is no surprise to We Are Open! Our cohort found that people in their teams and organisations were excited about having that access, constructive and giving with their feedback and genuinely eager to learn from those who got to take part in the programme.
“[I’ve enjoyed] learning where to find tools and not be afraid of them [and] writing blogs each week — never thought I would do that — its been great working openly.”
— Helena Kondziela, Action Hampshire
Some of the charities also wrote about how our flexible and transparent way of running the programme made them feel heard. They acknowledged that our collaborative style led to more learning and more progress.
We wish…
I want to say more time, but I think the fast pace helped with procrastination, maybe not overlapping the end of the financial year lot going on with other projects, but to be honest pretty hard to find a good time for a ten week program.
— Matt Young, WECIL
People identified that the fast pace of the programme was both challenging and, perhaps, exactly right. The short time frame helped people with issues around procrastination (e.g. there was no time to procrastinate!) and forced us to think on our feet and remain agile and responsive.
Some people wished their organisations had enough capacity to send multiple team members to the live sessions. Others wished they had taken more time to get users together for the User Testing weeks. As always, there were some who would have liked more time in the entire programme.
Next steps
We Are Open is committed to making sure our programme design and resources can be of benefit to charities wherever they are. To achieve that, we’ve been working on cataloguing some of our tools and methods over at our free resources site Learn with We Are Open. This is our one stop shop for free courses, free resources and how to guides to help you with digital transformation, openness, designing thinking and more.