Looking back on 2020 – and looking forward to 2021

2020 has certainly been an ‘interesting’ year. So much of our life has moved online. We’re seeing increased mental health concerns, a difficult jobs market, and recreational activities opening and closing as lockdowns come and go.

In this ever-changing and sometimes anxiety-inducing landscape, having access to accurate information about the services and opportunities near you has never been more important. There is still a need for My Best Life, and we’ve been working hard on it this year.

As 2020 draws to a close, we’ve got three key updates to share.

1. We have a Comms schedule for next year, ready to roll out in January 2021. Recently we’ve been thinking in depth about what we want to talk about, who our main audiences are, and what channels we’ll use to reach people. Now we have a plan in place. Get ready for more blogs and a new newsletter—coming soon!
2. We’ve updated our measurement and evaluation plan. We now have a clearer idea of the outcomes we hope to achieve at the individual, development and service levels. We know which indicators we want to track and what data collection methods to use. And we’re keeping our Steering Group in the loop as we update our plans.
3. We’re prototyping the onboarding journey for the app. Broadly speaking, there are two ways to welcome young people. The first is similar to what happens on Just Eat, as young people start filtering based on their location and what they’re interested in finding. The second is closer to Headspace, because the app asks young people how they’re feeling as a way of ‘getting to know’ them. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages, and we’re testing the user journey with young people from across the UK to find out what works best for them. You can try it yourself here.

We’ll be hitting the ground running in the New Year with a further prototyping session, planning for Alpha development, and developing our data model.

Despite the challenges presented by Covid, it’s been a pleasure working on such an exciting project this year. We’ve been blown away by just how much energy there is to make this product work, and how much others are doing in this same space. There is strength in numbers, and in channelling our energy towards the same aims.

From all of us on the My Best Life team, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

See you in 2021!