The research, design, and thinking behind the practice.
Over 20 years of community work have produced a body of writing, frameworks, research, and field notes.
The practices of community building, development, design, and facilitation keep evolving, so we keep at it: researching, designing, debating, exploring.
This is our library of ideas. Check back often.
Ideas created in the field. Yours to put to work.
Every engagement produces something notable: a model, a rubric, a sharper way to see the problem. These are the frameworks we return to, refined across more than a hundred programs and given the editorial treatment they deserve. We add to them as the work continues. Take what is useful into your own work. When you want to go further, reach out.
Community-based Advocacy
A study of twelve leading advocacy programs and the eight characteristics they share, with each advocate action mapped to a component of brand equity. The case for treating advocacy as a brand strategy that compounds across the customer lifecycle.
Get the report.
Community Innovation
The orchestration that turns scattered idea boards, labs, and venture funds into one connected system, built on eight shared characteristics. Why the real moat is relational, drawn from 200+ programs studied and shown across eleven, from P&G to LEGO.
Get the report.
Community Group Programs
Seven traits that turn ad hoc meetups into programs members show up for, drawn from a library of 200+ case studies. Explores balancing centralized support with local autonomy to keep leaders from burning out, shown across eight programs from Adobe to LEGO.
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The Community AI Framework
A working map for community leaders and the executives they work with, built on a clear thesis: community is becoming an ingredient delivered everywhere your customer experience shows up. Includes framework and a “next 90 days” worksheet.
Get the framework.
The latest writing.
The Future of Community Is Up To Us
A model can summarize what a community has already said — it can’t carry a network of relationships for decades. The future of this work isn’t fixed; what it is, is up to us.
Read note Jun 12, 2026The Job We Didn’t Sign Up For
Jobs To Be Done, pointed at social media: the feed is the rent we pay in attention. The job it can no longer do — real connection — has moved to smaller, designed rooms.
Read note Apr 24, 2026The AI Community Strategy You Didn’t Write
V4 of the Community AI Framework, plus the AI + Community Opportunity Canvas — a working map for a moment when community is becoming an ingredient, not a destination.
Read note Apr 2, 2026What I Learned About the Future in Copenhagen
Communities are built to gather what people think right now. Pointed at the future with foresight methods, the same rooms could help an organization see what’s coming.
Read note