Innovation Advisory · Frameworks
The Canvas
A growing collection of printable, one-page frameworks built for development practitioners, programme designers, and anyone who commissions work that affects real people.
What this is
Each canvas is a structured set of questions designed to slow you down at the moments when speed costs the most — before the proposal is written, before the budget is signed, before the study is commissioned. They are not checklists to tick off. They are prompts to sit with, argue over, and answer honestly before you move on.
How to use them
Print one out. Fill it in with a pen — not a keyboard. Put it in front of the team, the funder, or the person who has to live with the decision. The frameworks work best when the answers make you uncomfortable. If every box fills in easily, you are either very prepared or not being honest enough.
When to reach for one
Before you hire the consultant. Before you write the terms of reference. Before you say yes to the grant. Before you scale the pilot. The right time is always earlier than it feels — when the idea is still soft enough to reshape, and the sunk costs have not yet hardened into stubbornness.
Why they exist
Twenty years of advisory work taught us that the most expensive mistakes happen not in execution but in framing. The wrong question, measured precisely, still gives you the wrong answer. These frameworks come from that lesson — from watching good money follow bad assumptions, and from wanting a simple tool that forces the honest conversation before the budget meeting.
Available frameworks
The Venture Readiness Canvas
Six questions to sit with before your idea earns a name, a budget, or a website.
Open frameworkThe Measurement Checklist
Twelve questions to ask before you commission, design, or fund a piece of MEL work.
Open frameworkThe Evidence Canvas
Eight questions about what counts as proof and for whom.
Open frameworkThe Scale Decision
Eight questions about when to grow and when to stay small.
Open frameworkThe Kill Criteria
Eight questions about how to know when it is time to stop.
Open framework