We help forward-thinking organizations overcome technology dysfunction.
If you want great technology: Get the right people, in the right roles, in the right structures. That’s the path.
Latest Post: We didn’t time this one perfectly
Someone recently mentioned our post, Sink or Swim. So we went back to read it and thought: yeah, dangit, that's actually pretty good. :)
Which made me wonder, why hadn't I remembered it very much? And then I noticed the date…
Latest Podcast: Ashley Boyd, Mozilla Foundation
Ashley Boyd, SVP of Global Advocacy, discusses the transformation that the Mozilla Foundation has undergone since building a Technology Platforms Team, in terms of revenue, trust, collaboration, clarity, partnership, collaboration, and ability to leverage technology’s role in powering their work.
Latest Post: Front-of-house and Back-of-house
A great technology team is like a great restaurant. Sure, you need great food, but it's only part of the story…
Here’s a great job opportunity to lead the Salesforce platform team we are helping build, at the wonderful Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, as Ailey's Salesforce Platform Manager. You'll get the full Build Tank incubation treatment in this role as you lead a dynamic new team, supporting Ailey's remarkable programs and helping transform the organization.
We’re Here to Make Life Better for Your Staff…
It's easy to overthink technology, but in the end it should boil down to empowering the brilliant people you already have.
Re-Humanizing Technology…
You shouldn’t have to force yourself into difficult technology systems. The systems need to come to you. You should love your technology, and there’s no reason you can’t.…
It’s the hope that returns first…
People have lost hope for having tech platforms that support their work, and for good reason. But those hopes are right under the surface, just waiting for the right person to ask…
Expertise, Responsibility, Authority
Solving the “whose decision is it” problem in technology…
Newly Updated Post: The Scope is Supposed to Creep
Don’t rob yourself of the game-changing adjustments that will present themselves, simply because you didn’t predict them ahead of time….
From the Blarg: Future Organizations Will Have Way, Way More Technology People
If someone handed you a huge check to start an organization today, what percentage of your staff would you dedicate to technology? Really. Settle on an approximate fraction before you read on…
Come Join the Next Technology Unicorn Party
Come join our next “Unicorn Party” — a casual peer support and best practice sharing conversation for strategic, collaborative, ally-minded, technology unicorns. Register for the next zoom link here.
Guest Blog Post on NTEN: Your Technology Problem is Actually a People Problem
Digital transformation that actually works requires putting the right people on it and understanding what their job is — and isn’t.
https://www.nten.org/article/your-technology-problem-is-actually-a-people-problem/
Photo by Karsten Würth
Let’s say you’re ready to take your organization to a new level of proficiency with your technology. You’re ready for your technology to be a turbocharger rather than a constant anchor. You’re ready to make your staff’s efforts more efficient, harnessing talent rather than continuously wasting time. You’re ready to tap into the potential of your staff, your funders, and your constituents, and to break the cycle of constant technology debacles and disappointments.
So how do you get from here to there? We’ve pulled together this Roadmap to a Better Technology Tomorrow to walk you through exactly that. Read more…
Our "Curriculum": a simple framework for high-quality technology
An evolving “curriculum” of bite-size writings, to help people quickly get their heads around our basic philosophy about running successful technology efforts using a "product team" framework.
White Paper: Resourcing Your Salesforce CRM "Product Team"
Over the years we’ve worked with organizations to not just implement Salesforce, but to also build and incubate internal staff or teams who are ready to take full ownership of their system’s and organization’s success. This white paper offers models and specifics for how to put in place engaged, dedicated, thoughtful internal capacity to guide your technology.
This is what it looks like to leverage technology as a supercharger
You may have heard about the Global Climate Strike, but you may not know that the platforms driving and supporting much of this effort were created, managed, and supported by the incredible product team we’ve told you about at 350.org. Read more in “The Blarg”
Love Your Technology: The Product Team Approach
Personal Democracy Forum • 12m56s • June 7, 2016 • NYU Skirball Center, New York
Sam joins the Salesforce Admin Podcast to discuss our white paper about how to build and incubate internal staff teams to take full ownership of their system’s and organization’s success. (Feb 2019)
Hear on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, or the Admin Podcast page
Product teams: The next wave of digital for NGOs?
Mobilisation Lab or Salesforce.org
The era of the re-launch is over. How orgs can apply "product" principles to continually deliver the best technology.
Detangling Digital
Read on our blog or at the Mobilisation Lab
Has the concept of a centralized digital department outlived its usefulness?
How Product Managers Are Changing Nonprofit Technology
The Chronicle of Philanthropy
"Having a product manager on staff allows everyone in an organization to focus on what they do best.... It’s so common-sense, but it’s not common,”
Stop Winging It! Thoughtful Technology in the Social Sector
Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN)
Adding a product team is a really simple concept, but in practice it ends up being a fundamental shift in how an organization approaches technology.
Also see The Curriculum and The Blarg for resources and guidance to help your organization become great at technology.