The Challenge

Diabetes UK website Diabetes UK aims to impact the lives of people with diabetes as effectively as possible by innovatively using digital technology.

With a wealth of potential opportunities, the team wanted to use design sprint techniques to rapidly work through potential areas for development within a day. They needed to walk away with a clear plan for an MVP with agreed next steps.

We worked collaboratively to develop and run two one day innovation workshops. The first explored ways to increase the reach of the charity’s helpline using technology, and the second considered ways that they could deliver one to one peer support, online.

The aim was to start with a question and end with an idea that could move into full discovery and prototyping.

Our Approach

One day workshop

Our tailored workshops focused on bringing together industry and internal experts. We merged those insights with existing research and a horizon scan of the external market to develop a day that immersed the team in the challenge.

We used techniques from innovative methodologies such as design sprints and service design, helping our stakeholders to break the challenge down into smaller chunks.

The process

Step 1: defining the question

We started by defining the question that we would attempt to answer. We introduced internal and external experts from a variety of organisations, who could add value to the workshop with their insight.

Step 2: research

We then reviewed our insights, adding new information such as industry reports, technology analysis and comparator reviews.

Step 3: workshopping solutions

Having defined the question, we broke down the key challenges in answering it and developed activities that helped us solve each elements. We tackled each problem in order so that by the end of the day the team had a clear view on what their options were, before coming up with new ideas. The day’s final activities focused on agreeing a minimal viable product and the actions needed to take it forward.

The results

We delivered two one day workshops and answered two major service design questions.

Both workshops delivered an agreed pathway to MVP and included new ideas for testing, a set of next steps and actions.

Client’s view: 

“As usual We Are MC2 ran the workshops really effectively and we got excellent participant engagement and feedback. Perhaps more importantly they have helped us build a methodology which we can now use to tackle future challenges that would benefit from innovative use of technology.”

Said Dajani, Head of Digital, Diabetes UK

If you would like to talk to us about innovation or anything digital, contact alison@wearemc2.co.uk.

Skills: Digital Innovation

What our clients say

  • We Are MC2 helped us understand not only who our key audiences were, but what they wanted from us. Working with the whole MC2 team is a joy. They are professional, understood what we were trying to achieve immediately and worked collaboratively with us to achieve our desired outcome. I hope to work with them again very soon.

    Amy McCullough, Digital Lead, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

  • As usual We Are MC2 ran the workshops really effectively and we got excellent participant engagement and feedback. Perhaps more importantly they have helped us build a methodology which we can now use to tackle future challenges that would benefit from innovative use of technology.

    Said Dajani, Head of Digital, Diabetes UK

  • The team at MC2 have provided exceptional input into our digital transformation journey. They’ve challenged us, encouraged us to really stretch our thinking but also provided common sense and practical solutions. We are delighted to have them as true strategic partners.

    Paul Amadi, Executive Director of Fundraising & Engagement, MS Society

  • I wanted to work collaboratively with a strategist who has the right mix of experience, who has the ability to apply creative thinking to complex challenges and the know how to drive this thinking through to action. My experience of working with Alison and We Are MC2 is that they tick all these boxes and then some.

    Ben Butler, Head of Digital, Drinkaware

  • Not only were they a dream to work with they also produced a truly excellent piece of research which delivered everything we needed to plan ahead with confidence. And the research they produced lives on; we return to it time and time again as our knowledge of the virtual assistant and our users grows and develops.”

    Karina Brisby, Head of Digital, Versus Arthritis