IFRC Strategy 2030 cites transformations of collaborating as a distributed network and undergoing a digital transformation as two priorities. We explored how to achieve these goals with the innovation program and product – the IFRC Data Playbook v1. It exemplifies how a network-centric resource can be used to help teams on their data journey. (started in 2016 and launched with V1 in 2022).

As of this week – People from over 141 countries have explored the Data Playbook with over 4,113 downloads.

Collaboration is hard and beautiful. We aim to work as distributed teams but our understanding of collaboration goes through many lenses – context, language, what is on my ‘to do list’, ‘deployments’, ‘other priority items’ Add to that human behavior and team dynamics and you have a fun rollercoaster.

Network-centric products/services need to design collaboration spaces to be flexible and iterative. We need to dig into how to make collaboration and shared resources feasible and meaningful. When we collaborate in sprints there is so much potential to build on each other’s strengths and deliver a shared purpose in support of each other.

What we’ve accomplished through a co-creation process is having an engaged user base before launch, rather than launching a finished product and then having to convince and convene a community.

We’ve been learning how to iterate on the collaborative processes for other co-created products and services with various networks. There is no one way to collaborate. Our Data Playbook Methodology report shares insights on creating your own ‘playbook’ with your network.

This report provides insights and methodology, with reflection on the initial idea, pilot, beta, version 1, and product launch phases. We conclude with overall lessons. Data Playbook implementation and translation activities are ongoing and not included in this report.

To learn more about the Data Playbook v1, see this video and additional resources:

• Data Playbook v1
• Data Playbook templates
• Curriculum Guides – how to plan your Data Playbook activities

We thank the Swiss Red Cross and IFRC Solferino Academy Limitless network participants for giving feedback on how they might use our processes and templates for their efforts. And, thanks to Alison Freeburn for her editor wizardry. Get in touch to share how you are using the Data Playbook – [email protected].

Also, We’d love to hear how you might remix our methodology. Please reach out to [email protected] and [email protected]