Platform Outputs: Experiences & Learnings from the Clapton Circle.

Below is a summary of our experiences of enabling the Commons Outputs represented in our Platform ToC

Output

• People receiving support and their families can see and interact with their care data.

• Communication and coordination tools enable collaboration between formal and informal care and support.

• Platform clarifies relationships, roles & responsibilities with Teams and Circles i.e. "Hats"

• The platform facilitates giving and receiving informal support through a Care Coin system (gift, save, spend).

• Care Plans "Supportive Conversations" identify the relationships that promote people's well-being and meet their quality of life needs.

• The platform helps teams and circles access local resources that enrich quality of life.

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What we did:

The Team Starter in the Clapton circle helped each Team Owner set up login details and create two profiles on the platform: one for offering support and one for receiving it. All care data was stored on both the Equal Care Platform and Rocket.Chat.

During initial Supportive Conversations, the Team Starter conducted a structured care-mapping exercise—first on paper or a whiteboard, then digitized in Kumu—to capture every existing care relationship, past community involvement, and personal preference. This digital care map was shared with the Team Owner and any invited circle or team members so they could see which formal and informal supports existed.

Although every Team Owner received full access to their data, only one of the four edited their profile directly on the platform. For the other three, we printed hard copies of their profiles and reviewed them in person. Because the platform did not yet allow self-service searches or updates, matching information (who wanted to give support and who needed it) had to be shared manually—through printed sheets, PDF links, or verbal communication.

As soon as a paid care worker was matched to a Team Owner, we created a corresponding “team” on the Equal Care platform and a channel on Rocket.Chat. Team Owners (and any consenting family members, such as a daughter) were invited into that Rocket.Chat space to view care schedules, files, and notes. In practice, only two out of four daughters completed sign-up and remained active. With the Team Owner’s consent, we also invited volunteers and friends into the same space so everyone in the care network could stay connected.

Even before any paid care workers joined, we used the platform to assemble the informal support network—friends, family, volunteers—allowing them to coordinate tasks and share information on Rocket.Chat. This meant that by the time paid care began, the existing support network was already accustomed to using the platform for day-to-day coordination.

What We Learned:

Unclear Responsibilities and Limited Adoption: Assigning communication tasks to various team members without clear role definitions led to gaps—messages went unsent, and opportunities for coordination were missed. In practice, many team owners, family members, and volunteers preferred WhatsApp over Rocket.Chat, resulting in fragmented communication. Because the platform required multiple logins (and sometimes logged users out automatically), people often avoided it altogether, undermining its goal of centralizing care data and collaboration.

Technical Barriers Hampered Real-Time Collaboration: Introducing Rocket.Chat—an unfamiliar tool—caused a significant drop-off in engagement. Even those who initially signed up sometimes stopped using it when faced with inconvenient features (e.g., automatic logouts). As a result, real-time coordination among formal care workers and informal supporters rarely happened on the platform; instead, urgent updates reverted to phone calls, WhatsApp messages, or in-person catch-ups.

Low Engagement with Core Platform Features: Although the Equal Care platform offered built-in functions for viewing profiles, shifting schedules, and matching supporters to need, most users found these features neither intuitive nor sufficiently accessible. Only one of four Team Owners ever edited their own profile data online. For the others, hard-copy printouts—and lengthy in-person reviews—became necessary. This limited self-service capability meant that key onboarding and matching steps had to occur off-platform, generating inefficiencies.

Care Data Interaction Remained Challenging: People receiving support and their families struggled to explore or update their care data directly. Because the platform did not allow them to search for care workers or adjust their own profiles, every match required manually sharing printed information or PDF links. The resulting friction meant that users rarely felt in control of their data, diminishing the goal of transparency and shared decision-making.

Platform Not Yet Ready for Independent Team-Building: Although the idea was for Team Owners to independently assemble their care teams—inviting friends, family, volunteers, or paid workers—the platform lacked the functionality to support that process end-to-end. In practice, team starters had to handle nearly all coordination off-platform: recruiting volunteers, arranging matches, and then retrospectively uploading details. This dependency on off-platform workflows slowed team formation and limited genuine collaboration between formal and informal supporters.

Mapping Relationships and Local Resources Required Manual Effort: While the platform could store basic profile details, it did not facilitate dynamic relationship mapping or resource discovery. Every time a Team Owner mentioned a community connection—like a favorite church group or local lunch club—the Commons Coordinator had to manually update Kumu and then relay that information in Rocket.Chat. Because there was no integrated “resource finder” or “relationship-tracker,” these rich, quality-of-life insights rarely made it into the platform itself and instead remained in separate spreadsheets or paper notes.

Recommendations:

Leverage Familiar Communication Channels: Transition from introducing entirely new apps toward using tools people already know—primarily WhatsApp—whenever possible. If a dedicated, secure messaging solution is required, choose one that behaves and feels like WhatsApp (e.g., a GDPR-compliant version) so that informal supporters and care teams don’t have to learn an unfamiliar interface. This will minimize drop-off and ensure vital care updates are seen in real time.

Improve Platform Usability and Self-Service: Eliminate situations where someone must print out a PDF just to share a profile. Instead, enable in-platform search and direct messaging so that Team Owners can look up available care workers, review profiles, and make updates to their own data without going offline.

Automate Care Data Access: Build care-data workflows that anticipate common tasks: for example, auto-generate a “match summary” PDF when a new care worker is added, but also allow Team Owners to click “Accept Match” or “Request Change” directly on the platform. Ensure that everyone granted access (Team Owner, family, volunteer) can see the same up-to-date care schedule, shift notes, and care plans without having to re-share or re-print documents.

Empower Team Owners to Build Their Own Care Teams: Add features that let Team Owners independently invite friends, family, volunteers, or paid care workers into a provisional “team sandbox,” review each invitation, and confirm matches in-platform. Provide guided prompts during the Caring Conversation—such as “Will you use the platform to manage your team?”—so Team Starters know who plans to rely on the system. By embedding team-building tools directly, we remove the need to coordinate matches off-platform and accelerate the formation of blended formal/informal care networks.

Strengthen Relationship Mapping and Resource Discovery: Upgrade the existing care-mapping module (now in Kumu) so that Team Owners and Commons Coordinators can tag new community connections, local organizations, and volunteers in real time. Implement an integrated “Resource Finder” that surfaces nearby groups (e.g., faith centers, befriending services) based on a care recipient’s preferences. This reduces the manual overhead of exporting maps, reimporting them, and rewriting details in Rocket.Chat, allowing teams to see potential quality-of-life resources at a glance.

Clarify Roles and Onboarding Responsibilities: Make Team Starters explicitly responsible (and accountable) for granting each Team Owner and their nominated support network access to both the platform and the messaging channel. During initial onboarding, Team Starters should verify that login links work, guide new users through a brief “Welcome Tour,” and confirm that every invited family member or volunteer has successfully joined. This eliminates confusion over who “owns” the onboarding step and prevents gaps in coordination.

Embed Platform Usage Questions into Supportive Conversations: During every Caring Conversation, include a standard question: “How would you like to interact with your care data—primarily on the platform, via WhatsApp, or by printed updates?” Capturing this preference up front allows Team Starters to tailor onboarding (e.g., spend more time helping someone set up Rocket.Chat if they intend to use it) and avoid forcing everyone into the same toolset.