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Alidade

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STEP 1

What is your project's objective?
Why do you need a technology tool to achieve this objective?
Who do you expect to use the tool?
Recap

STEP 2

Your technical requirements
Which existing tools have the features you need?
Which projects have used technology to do similar things?
What could go wrong?
Decide on the best option
Think twice before you build a new tool
Recap

STEP 3

Create a user story
Plan a trial
What did you learn?
What do you need to change?
Recap - Do you need any more help?

STEP 4

What kind of help do you need?
What attributes should they have?
Who could give you the help you need?
Make a shortlist
What could go wrong?
Set up a strong working relationship
Recap

CONGRATULATIONS

BACK: Recap - Do you need any more help?

4.0 Step 4

The fourth step helps you find and work with technical partners or advisers.

There are three things to consider:

Deciding what kind of help you need.
Finding the right partner.
Setting up a strong working relationship.

research

Many organisations had relationships with tech providers that were difficult to manage. There were often long delays, bugs in tools, tools not meeting expectations, and communication challenges. Many had to terminate their relationships several times.

case study

An organisation created a request for proposals and selected the technical provider with the lowest offer, which never finished the database it had been contracted to set up. The organisation then tried two other suppliers. The organisation said that they wished they had invested more effort in choosing a technical partner that properly met their needs at the beginning.

Created by The Engine Room, the Network Society Lab and Mtaani Initiative based at Pawa254.

Built by The Engine Room

Produced with support from Making All Voices Count (MAVC).

Acknowledgements

Get a non-interactive version of Alidade in Google Doc form.

Learn more about the research

Part of an in-depth research project on how Kenyan and South African transparency and accountability organisations choose technology.

Send us feedback on the tool

We welcome any suggestions and feedback you have that will help us improve.

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When you have entered information, we store it in a database hosted on a secure private server. We do not look at that information, and will not share that data with anyone else.

You can delete all information from Alidade at any time - just ask us by emailing [email protected].

Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

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