Why a strategic focus on what we’re NOT going to do, is going to make us happier, more creative, and better at what we ARE going to do.

Picture of a jigsaw of bees — *Here’s jigsaw of lots of bees I enjoyed slowly pondering over during the winter*

Earlier this month our team met in person for a business planning day. We spent 80% of our time focused on all the things we're not going to do anymore. It was liberating, exciting and, to be honest, a huge relief!

Data Orchard’s 2023-26 strategic plan included a lot of innovation and experimentation. We’re an ambitious social enterprise and all for ‘stretch goals’. We’ve spent the last couple of years developing and testing new product and service ideas, exploring new advances in data and AI, and building our community and our team.

However, it's been a tough time – globally, locally, and personally – in politics, climate, and social justice. Our sector is experiencing overwhelm in service demand and workloads, major constraints on funding and resources, and is being told by the tech industry that AI is going to solve everyone’s problems. On a personal level, I and my team (like everyone else) have been dealing with all kinds of physical and mental health challenges – our own and our families’. So, reeling back on the 'too muchness of everything', and taking care of ourselves and our wellbeing is vital.

Here’s a summary of some of the things we agreed we’re NOT going to do (or at least for the next year) and some of the things we ARE going to do:

Five things we're not going to do (at least for the next year)

#1 We’re not going to publish a State of the Sector Data Maturity Report in 2025

We’ve spent a decade building awareness and evidence of the need for capacity building around data in the nonprofit sector. We’ve invited funders and governments to recognise the pioneering data work happening in our sector, invest in building data skills and capabilities, and collaborate strategically across sectors on national data strategy. We’re really pleased progress is being made in Scotland and that there are glimmers of interest from grant makers like the Prudence Trust’s ‘Strength in data’ funding programme.

We're going to take at least a year off publishing the annual State of the Sector data maturity report and redirect our resources into product development and building partnerships around our assessment and benchmarking tool. Obviously, if there are any funders or policy makers out there who want to support any of our work we’d be delighted to hear from you!

#2 We’re not jumping on the AI bandwagon

This diagram illustrates the interdependencies between some existing and emerging fields of AI.
Source: UK Government AI Playbook, Feb 2025

We’ve spent a lot of time learning about and experimenting with AI. We recognise there are enormous opportunities and major risks around this. We note too that it’s a complex and fast-evolving field.

Data Orchard focuses on six clearly defined data challenges. Resolving these will certainly better prepare organisations for AI, for, without data, there is no AI. But, sometimes it seems like AI is a solution looking for a problem.

We have built AI into the learning on our Data for Leaders course as one of the many aspects of data they carry responsibility for. We’ll continue to learn, experiment and reflect about AI along with our data for good community. We’ll promote the work of partners with expertise, facilitate conversations, and showcase good practice and pioneering work.

We’re probably not the only ones feeling like we're running in front of a train with this – we're just going to step off the tracks, watch, wait and learn for a bit.

#3 We're not going to do CRM implementations and will be more circumspect about dashboards

As part of our outsourced data team service, we’ll continue to support clients in finding the right tools for their needs. We will remain entirely product agnostic and will be happy to support clarification of needs and research options. However, we won't get involved in the implementation phase. We might build dashboards for clients – we have lots of skills and experience and can help define requirements – but we’ll only build them in specific circumstances. While we've enjoyed working with some lovely clients on these types of projects, we know lots of people provide these services and feel it's not where we can best add value.

#4 We’re going to stop offering benchmarking in our free assessment tool

We’re not going to give away benchmarking for users of our free Data Maturity Assessment tool anymore. We invest a lot of time ensuring our benchmarks are accurate, robust and based only on validated organisations across not-for-profit, public, and commercial sectors. We’ll continue to ensure our paying users benefit from this.

#5 We’re going to stop producing our Data4Good Tips, Tools and Tales newsletter EVERY month

Producing fresh content for our newsletter takes a lot of time and effort. You probably don’t have time to read it every month either! We’ll still be doing it but it might be a bit less frequent this year to give ourselves a bit of breathing space. And we’ll be regularly posting on LinkedIN and Bluesky too.

Five things we ARE going to do

#1 Keep focused on the things we do well that make a difference

We’re going to keep focused on the positive change we create. We’ll keep learning about what works, adapting what we do, and thinking creatively about how best to achieve the impact goals set out in our theory for change. We’re thrilled and hugely encouraged by the evidence of change and success amongst our clients and course alumni.

#2 Deepen our partnerships and relationships with geographic/thematic networks

We’re going to build on the success of our work with networks and partners where we’ve seen the greatest impact. Like in data maturity in Scotland; impact data in Wales; and data and intelligence in Greater Manchester. We’re excited about new partnerships looking to build data capabilities at scale within their countries, regions and sectors. We’re particularly excited about strengthening our connections and work with our tribespeople in the Social Enterprise sector.

#3 Continue to support peer connection and learning through our Datafolk Club

We're going to continue to support peer connection and learning through our Nonprofit Datafolk Club. We’ll continue to facilitate monthly gatherings to explore topics chosen by the community. And we’ll be exploring how we can better facilitate networking and relationships – firstly by doing a randomised coffee trial – do join us in April.

#4 Nurture our team

Our team has almost doubled in the last year and we have an absolutely amazingly talented group of people working at Data Orchard. We’re going to take time to wriggle in and gel as a team, get to know each other and build our working relationships and practices, so we can really fly.

#5 Unlock our creativity and have more, and be more, fun!

We're going to have more, and be more, fun. Our new expanded team will enable us to share the workload and create more breathing space for learning, play and ideas.

What now?

We're going spend the next couple of months finishing off and closing down the many things we've decided to stop doing. Then we're going to take a well-deserved spring break to rest with our families and loved ones. We’ll be back in May with a spring in our step. Note we have 3 spaces left on our brilliant Data for Leaders course starting 30 April, if you or your CEO are interested, at a bargain price of £499 plus VAT.

Doing less, being more