A system that listens well

Most software built for relationships is built to talk.

Send more. Send faster. Send to more people.

Some background: I started an interview series this spring called Signals. Three questions to Canadian foundation leaders. No pitch. The first one published this morning.

Annick Ouellette runs donor experience at a hospital foundation in Moncton. Her answer to “what would you change” was not about sending anything. Her team wants more opportunities to slow down and listen. Ask why people care. Ask how they want to be involved.

Her answer on 2026 was the same idea from the other side. New tools are coming. The opportunity is using them to strengthen relationships, not automate them away.

So the design question is not, “How do we reach more supporters?”

The better question is, “How do we hear more of what supporters already tell us?”

The design lesson: a system that listens well is worth more than a system that speaks often.

What does your software do with the things people tell you?