Hi all, I’m NPC’s Digital Product Manager! Ever wondered, what on earth does a product manager in the charity sector actually do? Here is your chance to find out! Every fortnight, I explore my highlights, the puzzle and conundrums I am still mulling over and the learning or ideas that have motivated my work. Highlights and achievements Becoming a Certified Professional Product Owner with Scrum.org and Agile.im Confirming funding to explore how we might make signposting better for young people. Puzzles and conundrums How do we improve navigation through local services? As I mentioned above, we have funding to explore… Read more “Weeknotes: Are we part of the problem?”

NPC is looking to develop a new tool, product or digital service to support more charities to use a theory of change to learn and improve. We have created a mock-up using the no-code tool Bubble and we’d like to see if the idea is useful. The challenge We have been exploring how a theory of change connects to learning within an organisation. So far, organisations have told us that the process of creating a theory of change is valuable, but there is a disconnect between the theory of change and their day-to-day work. There is a sense that a… Read more “From an idea to a prototype: help us test it!”

NPC’s digital work for 2021   2021 is almost over and what a year it has been. I formalise my Product Manager role at NPC in February 2021 and have loved every minute of it. Below I wanted to share some of my reflections on the work we have been doing in 2021. My core aims include: Aim 1: Making it easier to find support Our vision is to help create a world where it is as easy for young people to find support online, as it is to find the latest deal, news music or best takeaway nearby. We… Read more “Weeknotes: NPC’s digital work for 2021”

Over the last few months of connecting with amazing people, building and testing products and experimenting, I have pulled together a list of NPC’s guiding product principles (so far).  These are our guiding principles and the things we are working hard to get right, but we can’t do that alone, and will continue to share ideas and learning as we go. Do join the conversation! Our product promise   Find problems worth solving We focus our work on products that are worth solving because they are relevant to our audience, the problems are solvable and will add value to people’s… Read more “Our product promise”

Hi all, I’m NPC’s Digital Product Manager! Ever wondered, what on earth does a product manager in the charity sector actually do? Here is your chance to find out! Every fortnight, I explore my highlights, the puzzle and conundrums I am still mulling over and the learning or ideas that have motivated my work. Overarching feeling of the last fortnight Excited and tired! Excited for the opportunities by the projects I am currently on at NPC and the great work across the organisation. When reflecting with my coach (from the amazing Young Women’s Trust!) I feel grateful for the professional… Read more “Weeknotes: Using data better together”

Struggling to get key individuals to pay attention to your work? Feel like you are just shouting into the abyss?   We have ALL been there (trust me!) This week Giles Turnball (author of the Agile comms handbook) shared his top tips on Agile communications as part of a Digishift webinar. Below are the tips and ideas from across the collective.  Look for things in your work that other people need to know Experiment with bad first drafts Collect things to show and show not tell Think about user needs for your presentations or communications Open working doesn’t mean you… Read more “Communicating well: 6 tips for not shouting into the abyss with Giles Turnball”

NPC is looking to develop a new tool, product or digital service to support more charities to use a theory of change to learn and improve. The challenge We have been exploring how a theory of change connects to learning within an organisation. So far, organisations have told us that the process of creating a theory of change is valuable, with benefits such as a clearer internal and external narrative, more integrated services and more outcomes focused evaluation. However, for some there is a disconnect between the theory of change and their day-to-day work. There is a sense that a… Read more “Testing the concept: embedding a theory of change in your learning”

You might have seen from my previous post that NPC has been speaking to organisations about the opportunities and challenges of using of the Theory of Change and data to support learning.  We are now keen to share where we are taking these insights. The challenge  We are interested in exploring the question, what if there was a digital product and/or community to help people use a Theory of Change to learn and adapt throughout their organisations. The process of creating a theory of change is seen as valuable for individuals/organisations. Many benefit from a clearer internal and external narrative… Read more “Using a Theory of Change: from insights to ideas”