(development site – not for public use – official site: www.nawg.co.uk)

Technology Roadmap

Contents
  • Technologies currently in use
  • Projects and goals
  • New website
  • New shop
  • Joined-up data
    •

    This article provides a roadmap view of our plans for improvements through technology.

    Technologies Currently in Use

    Here's a summary of the technologies we're currently using, along with some of the challenges they present to us.

    Technology Used for… Challenges to Solve
    Ionos Domain registration. No known issues.
    Main website.
    • Poor navigation, therefore hard to find information.
    • Difficult to maintain, particularly the writing groups directory, which is very labour-intensive.
    • Inconsistent styles, giving it an amateur look and feel.
    • Reliance on documents and printing, instead of proper online forms.
    • Lack of facilities for engagement, e.g. blog is read-only from a visitor's perspective.
    Online shop.
    • Terrible user interface, both user and administrative.
    • Relatively expensive to run.
    • Overcomplicated processes.
    • Processes are a bad fit for how we operate.
    • Incorrect and/or missing notifications when transactions occur.
    • Fulfilment of orders has too many manual steps; not enough automation.
    • Overreliance on PayPal, which also provides the only (indirect) way to do card transactions.
    Email. No known issues.
    Mailchimp Distribution of publications and other information via email.
    • No proper NAWG account(s). Staff are using personal accounts.
    Dropbox Document and file storage.
    • Who has access? Who should have access?
    Zoom Remote meetings and events. No known issues.
    PDF tools Preparing and editing documents and publications, such as Link magazine and the newsletter.
    • It's unclear (at least to the author) what tools and what processes are in place.
    Office tools Working on non-PDF documents. For example, the membership spreadsheet.
    • Poor (or no) integration with other systems. One of the reasons maintaining the website's writing groups directory is difficult.
    • Membership difficult to maintain; too many manual processes.
    • Spreadsheet probably the wrong tool for the job.

    Projects and Goals ↑

    Here's a roadmap for the projects we can carry out, in order to achieve our improvement goals. No timescales yet, as much of the work has yet to be properly scoped.

    Some of the goals that are common to all projects are:

    New Website ↑
    Goals Phases Status Tasks
    • Attract more visitors.
    • Attract more members.
    • Retain existing members.
    • Engage all visitors.
    • Non-techies can edit content.
    • Make it easy for people to submit material for Link, newsletter, and other publications.
    • Assist with promotions by triggering notifications when events are posted.
    		Preview Done

    Not for public use during these early stages.

    • Gain feedback and evolve…
    • Declutter the front page.
    • Apply colours and other styling.
    • Add images and other graphics.
    Minimum viable product In progress
    • Logins and privacy handling.
    • Use secure connections (HTTPS).
    • Implement forms for joining, competitions, etc.
    • Configure domains.
    • Testing.
    • Go live.
    Support for non-techies Not started
    • Support for markdown, rather than HTML.
    • Develop administrative interfaces.
    New Shop ↑
    Goals Phases Status Tasks
    • Make it easy to join NAWG (and renew).
    • Make it easy to buy goods and services.
    • Reduce running costs.
    • Automate as much as possible to reduce workload.
    • Non-techies can administrate.
    		 Develop In progress
    • Research.
    • Requirements gathering.
    • Design.
    • Prototype.
    Preview Not started

    Not for public use during these early stages.

    • Lots of testing.
    • Fix what needs fixing.
    Minimum viable product Not started
    • Integrate with main website.
    • Go live.
    Joined-up Data ↑
    Goals Phases Status Tasks
    • Make it easy to find a group.
    • Make it easy to maintain membership information.
    • Improve access and distribution of publications.
    • Centralised competitions information.
    		 Scoping Not started
    • Plan what we want in more detail.
    ? Not started ?

    Author: Kevin Machin ♦ Created: 21-Oct-2025 ♦ Access: public ♦ Article: tech-roadmap ♦ Topics: technology