A simple framework to keep your charity digital product on track

What is this framework, and why does it matter?

At its heart, this is about layering clarity over complexity. It’s a collaborative, living resource that guides the team through the breadth of what the product or service needs to deliver, and the depth of its individual elements.

It’s broken into distinct levels, each building on the one before:

1. Vision: The overarching purpose of the product or service – its “why”
2. Objectives: The key outcomes that will achieve the vision – the “what”
3. Activities: The actions that the product needs to enable for us to meet those objectives – the “how”
4. Tasks: The specific steps or interactions required to carry out the activities – the “details”
5. Releases: Incremental delivery phases, ensuring progress and room to adapt – the “when”

This is very much inspired by the user story map structure, but I like to have the Vision and Objectives as a layer above, to help get alignment and demonstrate which bits of the product focus on which objective – helping give context to any prioritisation discussions. Of course the Vision and Objectives map directly to your measurement framework – so this allows you to make sure that everything you're focussing on in a release is related to how you're going to measure the success of the product.

What does it look like?

The screengrab below shows a hypothetical map with post-it notes at each level – a number of activities sitting under each objective. Each activity having one or more tasks. Each task having one or more details post-its in a particular release (or sometimes none – maybe we're only tackling something later).

This view lets you see the full breadth of the scope – what are we aiming to achieve with this product? What's our strategy? And also to have informed conversations about what to plan for each release – we can see how deep we need to go on a particular part of the product at any time. We can make sure that we have the right team allocation and budget planned – and we can keep changing course based on how we progress and what we learn, all while easily communicating about the overall shape of the product.

In our imaginary charity website, under the top level vision, perhaps one objective is focused around optimising income generation. A relevant activity would be people making donations – tasks might be making a one-off donation, a regular gift, opting in to GiftAid, receiving thankyou emails, etc. Then the detail can be split across releases, starting with the core essential functionality and then expanding outwards over time. Maybe the first release adds a relatively simple donation thankyou page and email confirmation, but in later releases we come back and enhance those with more personalisation or more onward journeys.

This approach gives both a detailed and high-level view – and ensures the team is always working on what matters most, delivering value incrementally and learning as they go.

How does this framework benefit a digital project?

1. Keeps the team focused on the vision. It’s easy to lose sight of the end goal when faced with competing priorities, but the framework always brings you back to the “why.” Every decision can be tested against the vision.
2. Supports collaboration and shared ownership. Because this is a collaborative tool, it invites input from the whole team. Everyone can see how their work contributes to the broader goals, fostering a sense of ownership and clarity about priorities.
3. Manages scope creep. Scope creep is the silent killer of digital projects. This framework helps you track what’s in scope for each release, while also letting you shift priorities as you learn more. It’s structured but flexible – a guardrail, not a cage.
4. Balances breadth and depth. Digital projects must consider both the full breadth of what the product needs to do and the depth of each individual feature. This framework makes it easier to plan holistically and identify gaps or overlaps.
5. Builds agility into the process. Change is inevitable – whether due to new insights, user feedback, or shifting organisational priorities. By breaking delivery into sequential releases, the framework ensures you can adapt without derailing the entire project.

Digital projects in charities face many challenges. But with a structured framework like this, competing priorities or lack of clarity become manageable. Every decision can be anchored to vision and objectives. It invites collaboration, giving everyone a clear view of how their work fits into the bigger picture. It brings structure to complexity, but with enough flexibility to adapt as you learn and progress.

Digital projects don’t have to feel overwhelming. With a tool like this, you're working in manageable layers, focussing on value, and making sure that your product or service ultimately delivers the impact your charity exists to create.