Day 12: What we’re working on at CAST — surprising and difficult things
A co-written daily post as part of my 30 day open working experiment. Written in 5 minutes during our CAST team meeting today — we reflect on one surprising thing and one difficult thing we’re each working on.
Tools used: Google docs, Medium
Time to create content: 7 minute activity during our catch up today, responding to questions in Google Doc
Time to format and publish: 25 minutes, using Medium
Re-use in action: Re-using and inspired by an activity our friends at Catalyst shared. We also gave this a go last week, check it out!
Speaking of surprising things, during the team meeting one member of the team shared that a squirrel had made a surprise visit into their home! Meet some of the fabulous CAST team — Tori, David, Jackie and Natalie.
Refugee Action EAR Digital Campus
by Tori Ellaway
My role at CAST
Head of Digital Practice
How I like to spend my time
Paddleboarding, playing padel tennis and cuddling my cats.
What is the Refugee Action EAR Digital Campus all about?
Working with Refugee Action, supporting 6 refugee and asylum support organisations with their digital skills and confidence, through a series of workshops and training sessions over the course of a year.
What has surprised me about this project
I’m not really sure why I’m surprised by this, perhaps it’s more a reminder of the value of a short 1–2–1 conversation with some of the participants — rather than communication by email or in group sessions where the stuff that’s going on for participants might not be so visible. Having a short conversation, checking in and understanding where everyone is at is so valuable. Maintaining the human element of the programme is key to engagement and success.
What is difficult about this project, right now
Engagement has been a challenge on this programme. The participants are obviously interested and keen to take part, but as small organisations that are doing amazing work on the frontline, they have multiple and very pressing priorities. This means that not everyone is able to engage to the extent we’d hope, and collaboration across the programme isn’t as present as we’d like.
What we’re doing about this difficult thing
We’ve been iterating the goals of the programme to participants, so that it’s very clear (and hopefully exciting!) what they’ll be taking away from it. We’ve also been offering 1–2–1 catch ups to help coach them through the activities, and extended the timeline of the programme to allow more buffer time to complete the activities.
New retro proposal for CAST
by Natalie Marshall
My role at CAST
Programme Lead
How I like to spend my time
I like to go for nice long walks in the forest at the end of my road.
What is the new retrospective (retro) proposal all about?
Putting together a proposal for improving our retros to ensure that we are capturing data and insights in the most effective and useful way and using that learning to inform programme and strategic developments.
What has surprised me about this project
I’ve found that we already have lots of existing rituals and processes that can be reused to support this work in a more formalised way.
What is difficult about this project, right now
Currently our data and insights are captured in lots of different places and in a variety of different formats. Consequently it is hard to review learning across programmes or at an organisational level to help inform strategic decision making. We also deliver retros in a way that often focuses on challenges with less time devoted to problem solving and coming up with actions and solutions.
What we’re doing about this difficult thing
I will be working with the team to gather feedback and insights to inform how best to resolve the difficulties we currently face which will include using existing tools such as Airtable and Miro, developing a new ideation element to running retros and using a test and learn approach to ensure that this new way of working actually works in practice.
Deloitte Digital Connect
by David Scurr
My role at CAST
Programme and Partnerships Lead
How I like to spend my time
Swimming in the sea then going to a noisy gig by the seaside (in that order)
What is the Deloitte Digital Connect programme all about?
Supporting charities to improve their digital skills and capability
What has surprised me about this project
We’ve recently completed the second edition of Deloitte Digital Connect and it was surprising (and reassuring!) to see that one of the things that resonated the most was learning about user-centred design and having the tools to understand better their user needs. “It’s going to change how we do everything” was one of the comments from a participant.
What is difficult about this project, right now
We’re reviewing the volunteer matching process to make it as impactful as possible. A key part of the programme is to match Deloitte expertise with charity needs so it’s important we carry on improving the process and the fit.
What we’re doing about this difficult thing
We’re running ideations and co-design sessions with the amazing Deloitte team (and my fab colleague Ellen). Working both asynchronously in Miro to get creative and then meeting on Zoom to do some deep work together. It’s been a really exciting process and really grateful that our Deloitte colleagues have embraced it! We’re also learning from other approaches and initiatives with a similar volunteer matching model so please get in touch if you’d like to share anything :)
Interested? Applications to this programme will open in October 2023. You can read about the Deloitte Digital Connect programme here.
Database to track project development
by Jackie Brennan
My role at CAST
Project Manager
How I like to spend my time
A lot of my time is spent with my 7 year old and on his activities. I’ve got a renewed interest in football, skateboarding and gymnastics!
What is the database all about?
Putting together an updated database so that we can continue to have a clear view of the status of all our projects and programmes and can make informed decisions and flag issues quickly as they arise
What has surprised me about this project
I used Airtable for this and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and powerful it as a tool and I’m quite excited about the possibilities of building on this.
What is difficult about this project, right now
How do we ensure this work is fairly seamlessly integrated with other aspects of our work — learning and evaluation, wider work on our Missions.
What we’re doing about this difficult thing
Keeping in touch with what my colleagues are doing on this via our useful ways of working — slack, Asana, knowledge boards (which Ellen has shared about before) and experimenting as we go.
Community Explore
by Ellen Smyth
My role at CAST
Programme Lead
How I like to spend my time
Love camping and hiking!
What is the Community Explore Programme all about?
A programme funded by Power to Change that supports community businesses to learn user research and prototyping skills that will help them in their journey to create community technology.
What has surprised me about this project
How many examples of community technology are out there already! We talk a lot about supporting social impact organisations to develop sector owned technology at CAST, and I have loved seeing tangible examples of how individuals and groups are applying similar principles to give communities ownership. At an event recently I heard someone talk about how they wanted to create an alternative, community owned, solution to Slack. They said something along the lines of, you wouldn’t host an organic food meet up in McDonald’s. It got me thinking about the how the spaces and tools we use are important for setting the right tone and intentions.
What is difficult about this project, right now
The tension between re-use and building new community owned technology. How do we help people navigate that, when to use existing solutions, and when to build something bespoke.
What we’re doing about this difficult thing
I used ChatGTP to help me come up with 20 questions someone should ask themself when deciding to develop community technology, or not. I have edited this, adding my own questions. It has helped think through the challenge. My brill colleague Joyce and I have also been doing some research and we are hoping to create a resource to share with participants on the programme to provide some clarity and food for thought. We can also learn from the experiences of people participating to reflect on this more.
Interested? Applications have now closed for this programme. You can read about Community Explore here.
If these are the kinds of creative and open projects or collaborations you are looking for, we would love to hear from you. If you think you can support us with any of the challenges Tori, Natalie, David, Jackie and I shared — drop us a message hello@wearecast.org.uk
Hello! I am running a 30 day experiment in open working to help me understand the benefits and challenges, so I can get better at supporting social impact organisations to work in the open. I would love to hear your comments, ideas and feedback! Thank you, Ellen
