Help and Kindness Dorset's Insights Bank Feedback

Dear Friend,

Thank you for taking the time to help us with the development of the Insights Bank for Dorset that we have been developing for the collective use of people, projects, and organisations across Dorset.

This survey is one of the ways we hope to gather input and gain insights (how appropriate!) into what people think about the Bank, its purpose, its applications, its design, its content, and its function. Your input will feed into the further development process for the Insights Bank, and help us shape and develop it in a way that will hopefully be as useful as possible to people, right from its first day.

To make sure everyone is on the same page to start with, here are some key links to the project history and its purpose.

https://www.helpandkindness.co.uk/insight-bank-introduction
https://www.helpandkindness.co.uk/dorset-insights-and-inspiration-exchange

For those of you who haven't been involved in this kind of IT development project, it might help to have a sense of how it works, so you have a clear idea of how your contributions fit into the development process over time.

Firstly, this is a BIG undertaking. Secondly, it will take time. Thirdly, it will never be perfect (sorry!) Fourthly, it will continue to change and evolve for as long as it's in use and is useful. Fifthly, we will probably try things that turn out to be dead ends. Sixthly, there is a risk in having so many contributors that we may end up creating the proverbial camel. Seventhly, it won't be able to do everything we want it to. Eighthly, and critically, I hope you will find that this process will be fun, interesting and rewarding, and that you will get something out of this personally, as well as benefitting your work and the people you work with.

I am hugely grateful for your support and contributions. They don't have to be earth-shattering, or even complete thoughts. Sometimes teeny things we notice can point us to look at bigger issues we may have missed.

This development will take time. There isn't a gantt chart for it as this kind of engagement and codesign requires an open mind, and flexible, inclusive, and responsive approach that can't be predicted. Even the goals we are aiming for now may shift as we work together.

There are some things that come first, some that come in the middle, and other things that are finished at the end however. There are a few big decisions that are needed to happen early which will be difficult to change and retrofit later. So when we consider your feedback we may add it to the immediate work, or we may put it into the workpackage for later elements that we'll be working on.

We often ask for clarification of the ideas and observations we receive so we really understand what you're saying, and what you're meaning through your feedback, and what you expect to happen as a result of your comments.

If you'd rather talk your observations and ideas through in person, I would love that. You can phone me on 01305 59 59 58 or email me on jon.sloper@helpandkindness.co.uk From time to time we may host a workshop or two to tackle some of the ideas and issues together. You would be welcome to be a part of that.

Finally, a huge amount of thought, research, conversation, opinion, and input has already gone into this project over the years and I hope this will mean we have something that is in a strong position to be useful already. Although you may not have realised it, things I've heard you say in other meetings, read on your social media, seen on your websites, and heard from people who know you, may have already been factored into the development we've done already.

We will post some further reflections on our website as part of a journal of the development, so you can see how the ideas you share are feeding into the project, and also keep pace with the issues we're looking at as the project develops.

You can follow the progress here:
https://www.helpandkindness.co.uk/insights-bank-project-development

Thank you so much for your contributions. I really appreciate your help and input. You can add more things through this survey at any time. So for those 3am brainstorms, or end of day questions, please pop back and drop a note.

If you'd like to talk about anything in person, please ring 01305 59 59 58 or email me to arrange a meeting. jon.sloper@helpandkindness.co.uk

Once again, thank you for your help.
With warm wishes,

Jon

ps. The small print!

We will use any information you provide to help us to build the Insights Bank for Dorset. The information will be managed by Help And Kindness. Sometimes we will share the responses from this survey with partners who are helping us to develop this project. We may also publish comments we receive anonymously to help stimulate discussion and further understanding about the way the project is developing. If you have any concerns about the data you supply, please get in touch jon.sloper@helpandkindness.co.uk