Chevening Career Plan Essay Example: Product manager at a civic technology nonprofit

Returning to Armenia, I will resume my Product Manager role at SmartGov Lab, the civic technology nonprofit where I lead user research on the e-Consult platform built for the Ministry of Social Affairs. In the first twelve months, I will run a revised adoption assessment on e-Consult's next release, documenting feedback from at least 50 households across three low-connectivity Lori villages and comparing agency caseworker uptake before and after the redesign. I will track three indicators: completed applications, repeat logins by caseworkers, and the share of accessibility issues closed before release rather than after complaints. The MSc Digital Innovation gives me what my current practice lacks: structured methods for diagnosing adoption failure and weighing governance trade-offs. I will use the service design studio and digital governance modules to convert field findings into options that hold up across organisations with different incentives, and bring a draft adoption diagnostic to monthly SmartGov reviews. Before presenting locally, I will ask two Chevening peers and one Digital Leaders practitioner to critique the diagnostic's indicators and consent steps so weak assumptions are caught early. In years two to five, I will convene a working group with SmartGov Lab, the Ministry of Social Affairs digital unit, and Lori regional municipality to co-design an adoption toolkit for civic tech platforms. A realistic target is three agencies piloting the toolkit within two years, with caseworker sustained-use measured against the e-Consult baseline. Buy-in is not automatic; I will pre-brief the Ministry's digital focal point and seek a committee agenda slot rather than assume sponsorship. Longer term, I want the toolkit's adoption criteria referenced in the public procurement guidance the Ministry revises each cycle. That is a request to make, not a result to promise, and the working group's evidence is what will earn the hearing.