Choosing tools

People often arrive at their choice of tools by a different route: Colalife through a process of evolution based on the knowledge of those involved at the outset; SavvyChavvy through the decision of the managing agency and consultants; Talk2Croydon by commissioning consultants on the basis of a recommendation. The context you’re working in, and your own skills, will determine how you choose your options.

If you’re planning a major project, such as one that uses organisationally significant resources, will be costly to switch to, or requires significant changes to how many people will work, then it is probably worth investing in a more rigorous software selection process. But Laura S. Quinn, the Founder and Director of Idealware which provides software reviews for non-profits, offers a stripped-down process for choosing software:

  1. Quickly define your top needs
  2. Check if you can do it with the software you already have
  3. Get a sense of what other people are using for similar needs
  4. Pick a package that sounds promising
  5. Run the package through some scenarios
  6. Decide if the package is good enough

Manny Hernandez of TuDiabetes looked for a cheap and easy to use platform for a discussion area where other diabetics might share their experiences and practical tips, and quickly found that Ning would do most of what he needed. Many of the stories in our case studies and beyond involve people making use of the best-fit technology out there and spending most of their time talking to people and making what they had easy to use , and not on spending months building more and more complicated specialist tools.

If the software is cheap and easy enough to deploy, you can run it through some real-life trials with users. Consider using free or low-cost tools to experiment, rather than going for new build. If they work, you may be able to continue to use them; but either way you learn a lot at low risk. As one option, consider whether you really need ANY new technology. Can you achieve your goals by creating presence in spaces and communities that already exist? It’s always better to build too little than too much.