Make important ideas work in the real world. See. Shift. Build. Move.

What’s the thing you’re trying to change at the moment that you’re finding hardest to make happen?

Work with us

Why Goodthing

The hard part is working out what to do.

They need someone to work out what’s actually going on. The organisations we work with are usually trying to do something important — create change in a community, build a stronger place, reach people who aren’t being reached, prove their impact, bring partners together.

But the problem rarely arrives neatly packaged. We’re comfortable in the messy bit between “we know something needs to change” and “here’s what we’re going to do about it”.

How we make things happen

See

Understand what’s really going on.

We map the system, talk to the people who matter, and find the reality underneath the brief.

The output: A clear picture of what is actually happening.

London SportA whole borough trying to get moving, with no shared story.London Sport

Shift

Find a better way forward.

We challenge the assumptions, name what is getting in the way, and pin down the opportunity worth pursuing.

The output: A clear decision about what to do next.

Derwen CollegeA specialist college whose ambition was invisible from the outside.Derwen College

Build

Turn the opportunity into something real.

We design and make the thing the opportunity needs to become, alongside the people who will run it.

The output: A proposition, a brand, a product, a service, a campaign, a system, a digital experience or a programme. Whatever the opportunity needs to become, built to be run by your own team.

Our RiversA river scheme nobody had heard of, now trusted by 500 homeowners.Our Rivers

Move

Get it working in the real world.

We launch, test and improve it until people understand it, use it and it starts to make a difference.

The output: Something people actually use, and the evidence that it is working.

The ArkA thirty-year lifeline that almost nobody outside had heard of.The Ark

See what’s really happening.Shift the thinking.Build what’s needed.Move things forward.

Who we work with

Organisations trying to change something that matters.

Communities, places, public services, sport and society. Leaders who know something needs to change but not yet what the answer looks like. Directors with a strategy that isn’t turning into reality. Partnerships that need to become action.

Local authorities, governing bodies, funders, charities and partnerships — where the problem doesn’t sit neatly inside one department or one brief.

Ways to work together

Four ways in. Most people start with the first, a short, paid piece of work that tells us both what we are actually solving, before anyone commits to building anything.

Problem Sprint

2 weeks · See

Bring us the problem you can’t quite get your head around.

A short, paid piece of work to get underneath a complicated problem and identify the most useful opportunity. Leadership kick-off, a review of what already exists, conversations with the people who matter, rapid system mapping, then a working session to test the thinking.

You end up with a clear decision about what to do next.

Opportunity Sprint

3 to 4 weeks · Shift

We know what this should become.

Takes a defined opportunity and turns it into a proposition, a concept and a plan. Audience and stakeholder insight, proposition development, concepts, a prototype or visualisation, and a roadmap for what building it actually involves.

You end up with a proposition and a plan you can act on or fund.

Make It Real

6 to 12 weeks and up · Build

Build and launch the thing.

The brand, the digital experience, the campaign, the service, the product, the programme — designed, built and launched. One integrated engagement rather than five separate suppliers briefing each other.

You end up with the thing exists, and it is in use.

Embedded

Ongoing, month by month · Move

Keep it moving.

We stay alongside you after launch: strategic problem solving, iteration, campaigns, digital and product development, insight and impact learning, and senior creative input on tap.

You end up with continued momentum, without hiring for it.

Tell us what you’re trying to change

What the output might be

A proposition, brand, product, service, campaign, system, digital experience, programme or new way of working.

The format changes every time. The job doesn’t.

Proof

London Sport — A whole borough trying to get moving, with no shared story.

A whole borough trying to get moving, with no shared story. London Sport

Derwen College — A specialist college whose ambition was invisible from the outside.

A specialist college whose ambition was invisible from the outside. Derwen College

A river scheme nobody had heard of, now trusted by 500 homeowners. Our Rivers

The Ark — A thirty-year lifeline that almost nobody outside had heard of.

A thirty-year lifeline that almost nobody outside had heard of. The Ark

Together St Paul's — Fifty years of trusted work that read as unconnected services.

Fifty years of trusted work that read as unconnected services. Together St Paul's

The Hive — A charity whose own community didn’t recognise themselves in the brand.

A charity whose own community didn’t recognise themselves in the brand. The Hive

See all the work

The case, in their words

  1. “Goodthing helped us build something people could believe in, not just something that looked good, rooted in place and people. I'd confidently recommend them to any council or public health organisation.”

    David TinnionCOO, London Sport

    David Tinnion

1 / 9

What we hold to

Understood.Used.Working.

Strategy into people. Complexity into clarity. Ideas into action. Evidence into decisions. Ambition into implementation. The format changes every time — the job doesn’t.

One small senior team does the whole job, in the room rather than presenting at you. We are finished when you no longer need us.

Thinking

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