Beyond the Brief: The Power of Dock’s Workshops

Most digital agencies run workshops with their clients. We're no different on that front. So what sets our workshops apart? 

For a start, we don't treat them as a formality or a tick-box exercise. Instead, we use our workshops to get under the skin of what you actually want to achieve. They're where we listen to your ideas, challenge assumptions, and plot a clear route forward. Where strategy, design, and delivery come together.

So yeah, most agencies run workshops. But as you'll see from our recent project with Complete PE, few make them as collaborative and outcome-driven as Dock.  

‍

Who Are Complete PE? 

Complete PE is a digital platform that helps schools deliver high-quality Physical Education. It provides teachers with lesson plans, resources, and curriculum mapping tools that make PE easier to plan, teach, and assess. Accessible on devices in the classroom or on the playing field, Complete PE helps schools meet curriculum requirements and inspire children to get active. In short, they make PE more fun for everyone. 

‍

Workshops that Work

Complete PE first approached us during Covid. Based on our work with Teach Active and other ed-tech businesses, they realised their old website was dated, difficult to maintain, and preventing them from winning new work. (A familiar story for organisations that wait too long between redesigns.)

Our workshops explored what they needed before we redesigned and relaunched a site that still serves them well today.

But the website was only the start. More recently, the conversation shifted to Complete PE's core product: a subscription-based digital platform giving teachers access to PE lesson plans. With over 1,500 schools on board, the platform is critical to their business. It was also ageing fast. The rise of AI and the demand for more dynamic tools made it clear that they needed a new, unified solution. One that brought the website and platform together on a single URL, with Login and Buy Now in one place, so schools can subscribe and sign in on the same system.

That's where our workshops came back to the fore. This time, we didn't just talk design and functionality. We dug into their figures to map a three-year vision for sales, staffing, and growth. We even worked on a new strapline. 

By going beyond digital, we created the context for a solution that not only supports PE teachers but also supports Complete PE's long-term ambitions.

‍

Creative Collaboration

We hosted two workshops with Complete PE, one in Liverpool, one just north of London. 

As with all our projects, these workshops weren't an elaborate brief take for us to disappear with ideas and return weeks later, presenting them like it’s the final round of The Apprentice. That's not our style. 

We collaborated live in the room. We challenged assumptions, validated decisions, and refined features in real-time. With multiple Dock team members delivering the workshop, Complete PE benefited from our range of expertise, seeing how the different perspectives from strategy, design, and development combine to create the right solution. 

However, the real power of our workshops lies in what comes next. We provided Complete PE with a 60+ page functional specification, a proposed system architecture, a detailed roadmap, wireframes, and near hi-fi designs. Tangible blueprints they could use to brief any supplier or, ideally, commission us directly. (Which they did.) 

‍

Making Clarity And Culture Count

Yes, our approach takes more effort upfront. But the payoff is worth it. Clients leave our workshops with absolute clarity on scope, timelines, and costs. Our process removes ambiguity and creates confidence. It also allows us to be honest when, despite ambition and urgency, a project simply can't be completed in three months. We'll tell you it needs six. 

Our workshops with Complete PE also showcased Dock's transparent, collaborative culture. Caroline, Jack, Alice and Tony brought different skills to the table while openly testing and refining ideas. We're humble enough to accept when we're wrong, experienced enough to rethink on the spot, and honest about the risks of shaping solutions live. 

Crucially, by using enterprise tools and open discussion, we keep clients focused on whether the design lands with their target audience, not just whether they like it themselves. That openness builds trust. 

And it keeps customers like Complete PE coming back to us for the next phase of their journey.

Want clarity before you commit? Start with a Dock workshop. 

‍