We are always trying to think of ways to be more transparent about what we are working on. There are lots of benefits of working in the open- we hear some great ideas, we reduce duplication and we share learning from failure.
With that in mind we've changed the content on the Lab site to enable you to follow what we are up to - and allow you greater interaction as we develop concepts.
We have simplified it into three main sections:
How We Work
This will contain blog posts about innovation , service design and the Lab itself. The intended audience is people who are interested in the process and discipline of innovation. As you are reading this - they are probably people like you! Expect about one post per week.
Current Concepts
This is a revised Trello board showing exactly what we are currently up to or what we are thinking of doing next.
There are four columns: Proposals, Next Up, In Progress and Completed.
Proposals
All the ideas put forward to us - no matter how big, small or crazy. We'd like to air these ideas with our community before taking anything on. They must help solve a problem for Bromford - or for our communities. We haven't committed to them yet and might never work on them. We just want to put them out there for feedback. And now you can vote on them too.
Next Up
Officially 'in the lab', these are ideas we've started scoping. This includes early research and design - basically anything to help us pin down exactly what we'll be working on. These will have links through to bromfordlab.com and will include greater detail on what we are doing and thinking.
In Progress
A list of things we are working on and are currently live in the Lab. Short updates on a daily basis - and you'll find documents attached as the concepts take shape.
Completed
This is where we'll share the successes, the failures and the things we are storing for a rainy day. Overtime we'll build an innovation graveyard with a series of posts explaining what we've learned - and what others should avoid doing! Please note we are still constructing this - it's not currently a full picture of our work.
What do we hope to achieve?
We are hoping the new approach will be easier to follow and you can take part in concept developments you are interested in. So if you are excited by smart homes ,for example, you can subscribe to the card on Trello and receive relevant updates and join the conversation. (You'll need a Trello account for this. Click here to sign in with Google).
Let us know what you think and how we could improve as we embark on a new phase of Bromford Lab!
Massive shout out to the guys at Buffer who have been an inspiration to us with their transparency dashboard and product roadmap. We recommend you sign up for a Buffer account - the smarter way to share social media.