Resources

How to adapt to change

Be prepared to pivot or evolve your approach as circumstances and needs shift.

How to align with stakeholders

How to assess your project’s current state

How to celebrate progress

Successful civic tech teams celebrate their milestones. Be intentional about celebrating wins, no matter how small, to maintain momentum.

How to challenge assumptions

How to create a design brief

How to cultivate resilience

Build capacity to navigate challenges and setbacks while maintaining focus on your goals.

How to define purpose and vision

Work as a team to articulate why your project exists, what community need it addresses and what principles will guide you. You should be able to summarize this in a single sentence, e.g. “”We’re building a tool to help residents easily report and track local infrastructure issues, making our city more responsive and transparent.”

How to define the problem statement

How to design for accessibility

Create solutions that are accessible to people with different abilities, devices, and levels of digital literacy.

How to develop and launch

How to do concept development

How to do documentation

Create clear, comprehensive documentation about as much of your project as possible – this isn’t just about documenting code, but also research findings, learnings about project planning and more. You never know who might find that information useful in the future!

How to do flexible planning

Project roadmaps are a great tool for keeping things moving, but don’t get too attached to them. Otherwise, it’ll be harder to pivot when you (inevitably) learn new things.

How to do ideation

How to do iteration

How to do knowledge transfer

Documenting your project is crucial, but how will you share that knowledge? Look for opportunities to connect with stakeholders and pass on your learnings, your hopes and your documents – you can start by presenting about your project at a hacknight!

How to do long-term thinking

We encourage teams to start with ‘minimum viable’ projects, while also thinking about scaling up. What resources – technical or otherwise – will you need? What relationships would be beneficial? Is there a potential business model for your project? Would an organization or government department be able to take the project on in the future?

How to do open collaboration

Create opportunities for diverse participation throughout the project by working and communicating in open places.

How to do open source development

Make your project’s source code publicly available and encourage community contributions.

How to do rapid prototyping

How to do stakeholder reviews

How to do technical feasibility assessment

How to do user onboarding and support

How to do user research

Engage with a wide range of community members, including underrepresented groups, using various research methods.

How to do user testing

How to embrace iterative development

Continuously test, learn, and refine your solution based on feedback and data.

How to empower others

People are more likely to participate in projects when they feel a sense of ownership. Consider making decisions collaboratively, or delegating decisions to team members who are leading aspects of the work (e.g. let the developers choose which software language to use). If you have regular meetings, consider rotating the role of facilitator to encourage diverse leadership styles.

How to explore different paths

How to foster a learning culture

Encourage experimentation, reflection, and knowledge sharing within your team.

How to identify success criteria

How to iterate and improve

How to learn and share

How to look beyond hacknights

Meet your people where they’re at. If your stakeholders are often present at other events, workshops or meetings, you should be there too (at least sometimes)!

How to make room for marketing

Don’t neglect storytelling or marketing. Seek out volunteers with communications experience. Make a short video about your project for social media. Write some blog posts. Look for opportunities to present about your work and refine your pitch (hacknights are a safe space to practice presenting!).

How to map your ecosystem

Identify key stakeholders, potential partners, and community members relevant to your project. Once you’ve mapped your stakeholders, ask yourself what you’d want them to know, think or do.

How to measure and communicate impact

How to monitor and evaluate

Implement systems to track your project’s impact and identify areas for improvement.

How to overcommunicate

If people are curious about or invested in a project, they want to feel like they’re in the loop. Look for ways to share progress, prototypes or learnings with your project’s community whenever you can.

How to pitch

Why learn how to pitch?

How to plan for sustainability

Develop strategies for long-term maintenance, funding, and community ownership.

How to plan for transitions

How to prioritize focus areas

How to prototype and test with users

Once you’ve built something small, you can show it to your users and build the next iteration based on their feedback. Then, rinse and repeat!

How to revisit your vision regularly

Make time to review and refine your vision and roadmap, so you can adapt to changes in circumstance or incorporate what you’re learning. Think of your vision as a set of strong opinions, weakly held.

How to scale and replicate

How to set clear goals and milestones

Establish concrete, measurable objectives that align with your overall purpose. And even though your team is volunteering their time, don’t be afraid of setting deadlines.

How to share learnings

Document and share your experiences, successes, and failures with the wider civic tech community

How to start small

Projects that are too ambitious or vague often fail to take the first step (maybe you’ve heard of “boiling the ocean” or “scope creep”). Instead, focus on something small and tangible that you can deliver quickly.

How to stay connected to your community

Regularly engage with users and stakeholders to understand changing needs and contexts.

How to synthesize research

How to synthesize research

How to use open data

Use and produce open data, ensuring it’s accessible and understandable to the public.