How a challenge works
Updated 16 September 2026
Most structured work on the platform happens inside a challenge: a defined question, a group of people, and a journey of phases worked through together.
A typical journey has eight phases:
- Challenge Brief: understand the problem, the context and the goals
- Scoping: agree what is in and out
- Discover & Listen: research with the people affected
- Synthesize Insights: make sense of what you found
- Ideate: generate options
- Prototype: build something rough enough to test
- Prototype Testing: put it in front of real users
- Pilot Preparation: prepare what works for a real-world run
Phases open in sequence. A facilitator opens each one when the cohort is ready, so everyone moves through the work together rather than racing ahead or falling behind. You can see later phases before they open, so you always know what is coming.
Inside each phase are activities: the individual pieces of work. Some you do alone, some your sub-team does together. Part 5 covers taking part; Part 6 covers running it.
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