An iterative design tour of the feedback commons

It has been four years since since we began developing a website where organizations could manage feedback loops within a clear, guided and get rapid insights. Our current design for the Feedback Commons has changed a lot! This is quite common when developing products. Here are some key lessons and moments of insight along the[…]

From knowledge management to knowledge discovery

I spend a lot of time dealing with data. Data is an ingredient in an organization’s larger decision making process. Institutions say they want “knowledge management” systems. This is a way to store all the information they create in one place and make it searchable. But the knowledge solutions I’ve seen only address half the[…]

How does your organization measure up?

How do you know how your organization is performing? Here at Keystone Accountability we say for a clear indication of how you are doing ask the people you serve. It is these customers, clients, beneficiaries, and other stakeholders, or constituents as we call them, that are best placed to determine the value of your work.[…]

How the weather is linked to social change

If you’re one of the two billion people who own a smartphone, it likely comes with a weather app. The app is probably equipped with convenient features like maps that give you all sorts of forecast spectrums ranging from temperatures and uv index dangers, to allergen warnings. You can share this handy weather snapshot on[…]

Could you benefit from a free data audit?

No longer can anyone use the excuse that it’s “too hard” or “too expensive” to refrain from collecting the kind of feedback that you will actually use to improve performance. We built the Feedback Commons to provide a platform that any organization could use to collect, analyze, and respond to feedback from the people they work[…]

When donors and beneficiaries see things differently

“We don’t see things as they are, we see things as WE are.” – Anais Nin once said. When this power of personal perspective is used to transform the world we call it “vision”. But it can also color the lens through which we see the world. In that case, we call this misperception “bias”. Observer[…]

Why you should talk to everybody: lessons from 2016 US election

Keystone Accountability believes that when everybody has a voice, and the leadership pays attention to what people are saying, this is the best possible form of management. 2016 has been the year of surprising referendum results. In June, 52% of UK citizens voted to leave the EU. This was followed the next day by an[…]

Are you really listening to the people you serve?

We believe listening to feedback from the people you serve can help improve outcomes. This feedback is an often overlooked but vital part of performance management. To make things easier for time and cash strapped organizations, Keystone Accountability has developed an online tool to help people collect and benchmark their feedback data. The Feedback Commons[…]

Development data – what is it good for?

Keystone believes in the power of data and benchmarking to improve how we do development. However, it is not always easy to come by. The International Aid Transparency Initiative is supposed to make information about aid easier to access, use and understand. It is the first (and only) standard for how organizations and governments are[…]