> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://bigecho.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Sometimes the best tech solution isn't tech - URL: https://bigecho.co.uk/articles/sometimes-the-best-tech-solution-isnt-tech/ - Published: 2026-08-05T07:13:18.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-06T16:04:42.000Z - Description: Often, the people building the tech and the people using it drift apart over time, and the solution is no longer fit for purpose. It can be tempting to jump in and fix it - but this isn't always the best way. - Author: Tom Parson - Tags: News, #colour-yellow **Often, the people building the tech and the people using it drift apart over time, and the solution is no longer fit for purpose. It can be tempting to jump in and fix it - but this isn't always the best way.** ![A group of 15 people stood behind a market stall, mostly teenagers with two adult organisers.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/60/556043da-15d4-4bad-98b3-0d4f58081bfa/content/images/2026/08/Lincoln-Wide-15-1.jpg) Traders at a Teenage Market event, with Place for Youth co-founders Joe & Scarlet Barratt. Credit: [Place for Youth](https://www.placeforyouth.org/news-updates/long-read-what-the-milburn-report-tells-us-about-the-future?ref=bigecho.co.uk) Many scaling businesses have a tech solution that once made sense, but is now falling out of step with the needs and behaviours of the people using it. Solutions are rarely implemented or designed by the people using them, and even with the best will in the world - ways of working change, and tech doesn't stay useful forever. When this is a solution that's been built bespoke, it can be particularly difficult to make rational decisions: sunk cost fallacy means that the more time and money you invest in something, the harder it is to rethink it. ### Empowering young people [Place for Youth CIC](https://www.placeforyouth.org/?ref=bigecho.co.uk) are on a mission to empower young people to turn places they live into places they love, through various events and programmes. After sitting on the board for several months helping to steer the tech strategy, I saw first-hand how PFY's bespoke tech was falling short of its potential. ![Two teenagers running a market stall, with one handing a piece of art to a customer.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/60/556043da-15d4-4bad-98b3-0d4f58081bfa/content/images/2026/08/31c3b1c2-9640-40d2-9ff9-042d5e4a7c57.png) Teenage Market events feature young traders selling their handmade products. Credit: [Place for Youth](https://www.placeforyouth.org/news-updates/easter-teenage-market-in-earlestown?ref=bigecho.co.uk) The organisation run Teenage Markets - events enabling young people to sell their handmade products locally, make new friends, and build confidence. Whenever I've been to the events they've been buzzing - intricate crochet gifts, delicious baked goods, handmade artwork - many created by people who haven't even started their GCSEs! (Do we still do GCSEs...?) It's exactly the kind of initiative needed to give young people new outlets and opportunities, especially with the planned young people social media ban. ### Bespoke tech Several years ago, Place for Youth commissioned a bespoke tech platform to plan the events, manage applications, and support the running of events. This is used primarily by regional event organisers from local councils and social impact groups, and young traders aged 11-18. Place for Youth were starting to receive more feedback about potential improvements, and noticing themselves that features that once made sense now seem to be getting in the way. They knew something needed to change. In this situation, it can be tempting to just wipe the slate clean and start afresh. We've heard the feedback enough times now, we know what needs fixing. Let's find some budget, and get on with it! Together, we decided that any changes made should truly address the real problems experienced by real users. PFY were smart enough to know that there may well be problems underneath the ones being reported. And they went looking for them before building anything. ### Workshop I designed a 2 hour online workshop for the event organisers to surface the underlying problems. After some initial introductions, we spent time working 'alone together' - where each individual gets time to silently contribute challenges they're facing - before we came together as a group to discuss. The Place for Youth team were intentionally absent from the session too, to ensure everyone had a voice and was able to speak freely. After grouping the challenges into key areas, we turned this into several 'How Might We' opportunities. ![An online whiteboard space with several white board and digital sticky notes.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/60/556043da-15d4-4bad-98b3-0d4f58081bfa/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-05-at-08.10.16.png) The online workshop featured a shared whiteboard space to collaborate on challenges and ideas. For example, several challenges emerged around the trade-off between making the trader registration process as easy as possible, while also gathering as much useful data as possible. Two conflicting aims. This translated into the opportunity: 'How might we make registration & application easy while gathering useful data?' These prompts then formed the basis of the last exercise - coming up with potential solutions together. ### Findings After discussing the outcomes with Place for Youth, several new insights emerged. Some of the challenges raised were no surprise, but some were new and made a lot of sense. Moreover, the event organisers had all noted how useful it was to all be in one place at the same time, to share wisdom and offer support to each other. Running a not-for-profit is a stressful and often thankless task! So having that peer support proved invaluable. The session was so useful, both for PFY and the event organisers, that PFY have since decided to run more regular drop-in sessions - an idea that came directly out of the workshop. Sometimes, the best technical decision doesn't involve tech at all - it's the decision to get the right people back in the room.