Launching a platform for organisational change

The challenge

The Honeycomb Works set out to promote workplace cultures built on trust and innovation, empowering individuals to align their personal development with the strategic goals of their employers. Their mission is to build inclusive and innovative cultures, for everyone at work to feel like they belong and are free to invent.

The founding team, originally working in a more traditional learning and development (L&D) space, wanted professional training to have a greater impact - both on the individuals receiving it and on the organisations funding it.

Background

Facing evolving challenges like digital transformation and workforce upskilling, The Honeycomb Works identified a way to turn ‘soft skills’ into measurable, meaningful data. This innovative approach aims to help both individuals and organisations track behavioural development and its impact on overall performance.

The founding team emerged from the work Unboxed had done with Reed Learning, where we helped them establish a more user-centred, agile and lean approach to product innovation.

During this time, we explored several concepts within the L&D space, one of which – building a platform focused on behavioural change - was validated through user research, prototyping, and testing. This early stage research confirmed the idea’s viability and gave The Honeycomb Works the confidence to launch the platform as a key component of an independent start-up.

Our approach

Building an MVP to test and scale

To bring The Honeycomb Works’ vision to life, Unboxed assembled a small team of designers and developers to build a minimum viable product (MVP). An MVP is the simplest version of a product that has just enough features to test the idea and get feedback from early users. This technical platform, created using Ruby on Rails and hosted on AWS infrastructure, allowed the founders to test their proposition with real users in a live environment. Early feedback was critical in refining and scaling the product.

Our work didn’t stop at the MVP launch. Unboxed continued to help The Honeycomb Works prototype new features, test them with customers, and then implement them into the live platform. We also worked closely with their team to embed lean practices, agile delivery, and user centred design, ensuring the platform was both sustainable and adaptable as the business evolved.

We also provided ongoing coaching and mentoring to their internal team, supporting recruitment efforts, and offering design and development capacity as the company grew.

Outcome

From vision to reality

As a result of our partnership, The Honeycomb is now a fully functioning product and has signed up over 40 organisations, including the Royal Academy of Engineering and Rapha.

What we learnt

A partnership built on shared values

Since 2016, Unboxed has provided ongoing design and technical support to The Honeycomb Works. As the platform has matured, so too has the business, and we’ve continued to enhance the product while mentoring their internal team.

Our collaboration has been a learning experience on both sides, reinforcing the importance of inclusion, diversity, and a user centred approach in product development. The Honeycomb Works team have provided invaluable advice and insight, including the use of their belonging survey, to help Unboxed be a workplace in which diversity of experience and perspective is truly valued as an essential part of our culture.

Beyond the project

As well as building a scalable platform, our work with The Honeycomb Works helped them establish a strong company culture. Their values of trust, innovation, and inclusion, core principles that also align with those of Unboxed, - have been integral to the business’s success.