1: Hypothesis and assumptions
Explain the problem you’re trying to solve or the theory you’re testing. We formed this hypothesis for the NHS website.
“When people look for ‘care and wellbeing information’, the content, tools and services they come across should be easy to use, clinically safe and trigger the appropriate action relevant to them.”
Consider any assumptions you have about what your product is going to do and the changes you expect it to achieve. One assumption we have is that people want to self-diagnose and have evidence for their own prognosis, so they’ll follow the advice on the NHS website and know when it is appropriate to contact a health professional. Another is that people will use the website to quickly find the most appropriate service local to them.
2: Outcomes
Think about how your product can benefit its users. List the short, medium and long-term outcomes that your product is trying to achieve.
An example of a short-term outcome is that patients feel able to take appropriate action ‘now’. They would then feel more in control of their health, which is a medium-term outcome, potentially reducing anxiety and leading to greater empowerment. A long-term outcome is increased life expectancy. Many short and medium-term outcomes contribute to a long-term outcome. Remember this is a hypothesis, a logic model builds on assumptions which may be proven over times as evidence is revealed.
3: Inputs and activities
List the resources you have available for your project, including:
- budget
- equipment
- previous research and evidence
- the people and organisations working on it
Decide on and record the processes, events, technology and actions you’ll use to build your product. For example, the NHS website programme has a large multidisciplinary team with relevant skills available to maintain and update the website using an agile approach.
4: Outputs
Consider how your product and the interactions with your users can contribute to achieving the selected outcomes. An output for our team is that we must ensure the content on the NHS website is safe and accessible to consume wherever it’s used – whether on our website or via content syndicated elsewhere – so that users receive the help they need when they access the service.
Think about how your product may also negatively impact these intended outcomes. It’s important to always consider unintended consequences and risks associated with your product.
5: Context and barriers
Describe the users of your product and the policies the product is designed to support. For example, users of the NHS website are at varying stages of their lives and have a wide range of socio-economic needs.
Discuss any constraints that may stop you from building your product or prevent it from being successful. Make sure you consider the context in which your product sits – whether that be political, environmental or societal factors – or simply competition.