Systems thinking services
Nothing is more frustrating than knowing your work could change the world, but getting stuck on preventable problems. I understand the frustration of not knowing what users actually want, watching talented teams work without focus, or struggling to show funders the impact you're making. These are systemic challenges, and they’re solvable.
Proving impact to funders and stakeholders
Context: Impact-driven organisations often struggle to demonstrate their effectiveness with concrete evidence, making it harder to communicate their value.
Service offering: Impact measurement project - We’ll build frameworks that capture quantitative metrics and qualitative outcomes, with data that fits your operations and creates compelling stories for stakeholders.
Key deliverables:
Custom impact measurement framework
Data collection systems integrated with operations
Stakeholder reporting templates and storytelling formats
Example outcome: Clear evidence of your impact that secures funding, satisfies board requirements, and supports strategic decision-making.
Discovering what users will actually pay for
Context: Teams often build based on assumptions or predictions rather than real user needs, leading to building products and features that waste time and resources.
Service offering: A product discovery project - We’ll design and execute targeted user research to validate ideas and assumptions before you build.
Key deliverables:
User research plan and execution
Validated user personas and needs
Recommendations for priorities and go/no-go on ideas
Example outcome: A clear, data-backed direction toward what to build first, reducing development risk and increasing likelihood of product-market fit.
Getting tech teams to build what you need
Context: Leaders often know what they want but struggle to communicate requirements to developers, leading to misaligned expectations, scope creep, and delayed delivery.
Service offering: Development specification project - I facilitate story mapping, problem discovery, and solution storming sessions to translate vision into clear, prioritised requirements that designers and developers can execute.
Key deliverables:
Story maps, problem documentation, and a healthy backlog
Focused MVP specification with budget/timeline constraints
Clear development roadmap with user-focused priorities
Example outcome: A development brief that gets you what you need to work well, deliver on time, and do it within budget.
Getting the whole team focused on the same goals
Context: High-performing teams lose focus when everyone works on different priorities, leading to scattered effort and missed objectives despite good work.
Service offering: Team alignment project - We’ll design, implement, and run planning processes that create shared ownership of priorities and strategic focus across the team.
Key deliverables:
Gap analysis of current planning and alignment systems
Collaborative planning cycle with regular check-ins
Strategic clarity documentation and priority tracking systems
Example outcome: A unified team working on the right things at the right time, with systems that maintain alignment as you grow.
Implementing AI for impact-driven organisations
Context: Organisations know AI could help their business but struggle to identify where it will actually add value rather than just be another expensive technology.
Service offering: AI opportunity and implementation project - I map your operations (product and internal) to identify high-impact feasible AI implementations that solve real issues and recommend implementation steps.
Key deliverables:
Complete system map (products, services, operations)
Prioritised AI opportunity analysis
Implementation roadmap with costs and resource requirements
Example outcome: A strategic AI plan focused on your biggest operational challenges, with clear ROI projections and practical next steps.
How we’d work together
Drawing on experience from Ubuntu, South Pole, Earth Action, ForwardInc, and UseSpace I've learned that the best outcomes come from having a deep and extensive conversation about your vision and your challenges before jumping into recommendations.
Step 1 first conversation (30-45 minutes): We'll dig into your challenge - what you've tried, what's working, what isn't, and what success looks like for you. No pitches, just questions and genuine curiosity about your situation.
Step 2 if there’s a fit: I’ll come back to you with a clear proposal outlining how I’d approach your specific challenge, what the process would look like and what outcomes you can expect. The first item on the proposal will be another, much longer conversation where we get into the details, go over my proposal, and talk admin.
Step 3 the work: Whether it's a quick discovery project or ongoing support, I focus on practical solutions and deliverables that fit your team's capacity and constraints - not theoretical frameworks to sit on shelves.
Step 4 after the project: I’ll handover my work and the deliverables and make a write up of our collaboration together. Then I’ll share the story through my professional channels to highlight the work we did and the impact you’re making.
Ready to talk? Book a conversation and let's discuss. Even if your situation doesn't perfectly match the examples above, I'd welcome the chance to understand your context and see how I can help.