Consultancy case study — Project Initiation for Chihuly in the Botanic Gardens
A year ago, I assisted the Botanic Gardens, SA get their largest ever arts project underway. This was written a year ago, published after the Premier opened the show, 26 September 2024.
Basic info:
- Client: Botanic Garden and State Herbarium, South Australia
- Industry: Museums, Zoos and Historic Sites
- Date: November 2023
- Assignment duration: 5 days with 4 days onsite
Background
November 2023. The Gardens had secured the largest event in its history — a 7-month showing of the international artist Dale Chihuly’s glass artworks, with associated programming, destination marketing and partners that aren’t public knowledge at time of writing.
The Gardens’ BAU presents significant operational challenges — horticulture isn’t set-and-forget, and the lead-up to the show in the festival city of Adelaide is already packed with other events.
Delivering an art event at this scale wasn’t part of the Gardens’ modus operandi, and so a project lead would be recruited to drive it. But this had to wait for Government announcement and in the meantime there was urgency to get going.
The Executive team requested advisory support for project inception: to get a programme of work up and running, and build a methodology for success that a project leader can slot into in approx 3 months’ time.
Method
Before getting on site, I took a briefing from the Director and the Deputy Director, Public Engagement. I also got a good look at the artist proposal and the ‘Big Whiteboard of Truth’ — covered in the Director’s notes of opportunities, tasks, risks and partners. This led me to a good plan, which I then adapted on the fly.
Once onsite, I spent four days, some things with structure,
- 3x workshops with Senior Leadership Team and key staff on Outputs and Timeline, Stakeholders and Risk (in a “Pre-mortem” frame)
- 1:1s with Senior Leadership Team and key staff
- Reviewing and advising on the draft “Project Leader” Position description
- 1:1s with key partners including Chihuly Studio, other linked SA gov departments and an as-yet-secret Arts partner
- 1:1 with Board Chair
- Check-ins and reviews with Deputy Directors of Public Engagement and Living Collection
And some things with less structure,
- desk-time to review and formulate an approach
- informal conversations to sense-check
- jump into active conversations about key live issues — to assist and also to watch team members in problem-solving mode
Seven ‘solutions’
Solution 1 : building *helpful* tools and populating them
The most valuable insights from an outsider are things you can’t see from inside the system. First off, it became clear that the primary task I’d been set wasn’t the most helpful thing to do. The long-lead activities were completely under control: Facilities and Horticulture leaders had critical tasks underway and very clear plans for what needed to happen over the next few months.
But what was needed was to translate existing ‘BAU’ accountabilities, governance and decision-making methods into systems suitable for delivering a major creative project. Scale, urgency, complexity, capacity and capability were all in play differently for a project like this. So I changed focus, and ultimately delivered:
- Role/ accountability matrix, including as-yet-unrecruited roles and project roles for existing staff talent
- Schedule of owners and tasks until PM appointment
- Stakeholder management tool
- Risk management tool
- Governance and leadership structure and workflow, including the cadence of project meetings
- Decision-making framework, using a ‘preliminary decisions’ methodology, and a tracker tool
The first of these I built from scratch, the rest I used my existing proprietary templates and tools, handing them over for ongoing use.
My guidance for these was fit-for-purpose, not so-called ‘best practice’. The last thing this team needed was a 6-sigma/agile/prince2 behemoth built inside Monday / Asana. These were:
- Practical tools in word/excel that could be applied immediately.
- Simple — no project management training needed. The tool is the workflow is the guidance notes is the reporting
- Flexible and editable. Incoming project leader wants to add a column to an excel sheet to do a better job? Go for it.
Solution 2: build the people into the process
Due to the confidentiality involved in getting a major event off the ground, a very small group of senior leaders had been taking every decision; not sustainable nor desirable as the project ramped up. In conversation, I identified a way to steer a better decision process utilising a talented ‘neutral’ staff member and the provisional decision method. I’ve found this to be very useful in driving culture change for better projects: ensure owners for key processes rather than just for tasks.
And in the realm of tasks, I intentionally left most of the future project schedule blank. The project leader’s arrival — which should be about 30% into the project development timeframe — is the perfect time to re-look at all of the above, and edit/change/replan
Solution 3: embedding that opening day isn’t the end.
Tasks and methods explicitly extend through to close-out of the project. Beyond opening day and deinstallation, the final reconciliation of the finances, for example, are two years away. It’s helpful to ensure project teams don’t over-focus on opening day. (Bringing in some thinking from Readiness project innovations.)
As the team discussed the accountability matrix draft, I got some feedback, and I added a new role for ‘Operations Lead’ — someone to be recruited and lead the onsite operational management. A great idea. But it’s worth noting that came up in response to a ‘version 0.1’ — often the best way to get something right is to do something almost right and build with wisdom from the crowd.
Solution 4: identifying and resolving a missing function
I knew it before I arrived; it was clear from the whiteboard. There was a very significant function missing, something that I thought could make or break the project. The solution was quite simple. When I talked about what I could (not) see, the impact of the gap and the potential and benefits if it were filled were clear to everyone.
By the time I left four days later, a solution was already underway, identifying a way amongst the team and partnerships to fill that gap.
(This is a gap I see in many partnership projects in major cultural organisations, and it’s a mess to fix once underway. But I’m not going to say what it was, here, of course.)
Solution 5: assurance and advice to the Chair
I had an informal conversation with the Chair of the Board. She was, of course, across all the big issues. I was able to add some thinking on contextual issues within wider internal and external climate that would benefit from attention. That’s as explicit as I’ll be about that.
Solution 6: ranging usefully beyond my scope
Some consultants take a ‘just do what you’re paid for’. I hate that. I’m there, I have thoughts, why wouldn’t I offer them? So I made some observations, variously to the senior leaders, the Director and the Chair, including
- considerations for commercialisation,
- balanced scorecard objective-setting,
- capability building,
- reputational risk
- legacy realisation
Solution 7: simple (no powerpoint! no corporate template!) report
I issued a bunch of tools (an excel risk register, for example) and a written report as four pages of dot points. Flowery prose wouldn’t help, and each one is an observation, a suggestion or a question, which essentially act as a checklist
I structured it in nested sections, in order that each could be easily detached at the Director’s discretion
- Advice for the Chair (to be issued to the Board)
- Advice for the Director
- Advice for the Senior team (to be issued to the team)
- … which become a checklist for the Project Leader when appointed
Feedback
At the time, the Director and Board Chair expressed that the assurance, advice and rapid project inception were useful.
Four months after the assignment the appointed Creative Producer fed back:
- This inception work enabled a quick start: project information and tools were laid out.
- It was very helpful that a rhythm of project activities was already running with roles clear.
- The tools and report were an excellent reference point / checklist over the first few months.
- Having decision, stakeholder and risk tools ready was useful; it was more nimble than having Plans.
Reflections
The rapid build cycles (build the tool, get feedback, adapt the tool) is rarely possible without an intense onsite period. I wouldn’t recommend, nor take as an assignment, a method of “one day a week for a month” for getting a major project off the ground.
An assertive caring neutrality was helpful. I had no agenda: I wanted to set the team up for success, but I had no stake in the eventual form of the show and I wouldn’t need to deal with anyone on an ongoing basis. I didn’t have to engage with any this department didn’t get their budget uplift because that department got the money.
It was great to have the freedom from the client to range across the project — poking my nose into issue X could reveal a linked issue Y, or a potential solution to issue Z. This is quite different from ‘best-practice’ project management planning, where the history, aspiration, context, and staff culture are generally ignored in favour of producing cookie-cutter GANTT charts. Which then make people hate what they believe is ‘proper’ project management and revert to ‘just run at it’ behaviours.
What a beautiful team! Everyone at the Gardens was enthusiastic and knowledgeable, with lots of ideas. Everyone was honest with me about the challenges, too, ensuring I could work to help resolve the issues ‘on the ground’ rather than just those visible from the Director’s point of view. I am very excited to visit the show next year!
Postscript — September 2024
Having attended the launch last night, I can safely safe the show is spectacular. The works are stunning, and set amongst immaculate landscape. The entire Gardens team has done an astounding job. I’m glad to have played a tiny part in the project’s success but this achievement lies entirely with the entire Gardens team and the Chihuly Studio’s creativity and professionalism. You’ve got seven months to see it and i strongly recommend you do!
