Digital decision-making in cultural organisations: a collaborative research pilot

The tl;dr

We talk a lot about strategy, skills and systems, but I think the things that really shape digital work probably often happen in more prosaic, everyday ways - in a meeting, an email, a rushed conversation. This pilot will explore what’s really going on in those moments.

I’ve seen in my mentoring and critical friend engagements that organisations often benefit simply from noticing how their decisions actually get made. Patterns become visible surprisingly quickly once you start paying attention.

This pilot will run between April and July 2026 (exact dates tbc) and offers:

• 12 weeks of structured reflection on your digital work
• Expert facilitation and analysis
• Peer learning with similar organisations
• Individual report showing your patterns plus recommendations
• Analysis showing what's shared across the cohort
• Clarity on whether your challenges are solvable (and how)

For a time commitment of ~3 hours/month and a small participation fee (£600-£1,200 based on organisation size)

This focuses on getting clear about the real question is and working through it together, rather than pretending we have all the answers.

Over 12 weeks between April-July 2026, a small cohort of organisations will take part in realtime, structured reflection on their digital work - observing how decisions are made, how capacity is judged, and how learning sticks (or doesn’t). The aim is to understand digital work as it actually happens, not as we remember it later.

In Beyond the Promise - my 2025 research into digital project failure - I found that digital projects in the cultural sector rarely fail because of technology. They fail because of unclear rationale, reactive decision-making, overstretched capacity, and a lack of reflection and learning. My recent Making the Case conversations with cultural leaders further underlined how widespread and constraining these isues are.

This pilot is the next step. I want to move from retrospective accounts to live observation. Instead of analysing what people remember, I want to explore how digital decisions, capacity conversations, and organisational learning actually unfolds in real time.

The goal is to get 12 weeks of structured reflection on your digital work to help you:

• understand your decision-making patterns
• learn from similar organisations

And to help me:

• understand what's going on in detail
• think about future tools or approaches that might actually be useful

It’s a rare opportunity to reflect, observe, and understand your own digital culture not in theory, but in practice. The process itself can often spark small, immediate improvements and help to surface issues you didn’t know were shaping your digital work.

For example, you might notice "oh, we always skip the capacity conversation when it's the HoD's idea" or "we've made this same decision three times and still can't remember why we chose that approach".

Those realisations are part of the value, you don't have to wait until the end of the 12 weeks to start noticing your patterns.

Interested in taking part?

If you have questions or want to apply. Email me: [email protected]

My hypothesis

Drawing on my experience working in and with cultural organisations, alongside the findings of Beyond the Promise and Making the Case, I suspect that cultural organisations often:

• Make digital decisions reactively - driven by funding, peer activity, senior enthusiasm, or something going wrong
• Overestimate capacity - committing to projects when teams are already stretched thin
• Lose learning - decisions and context vanish when projects end or people move on

The report confirmed these as widespread issues, but what we don't yet know is:

• How they actually manifest day-to-day
• Where and when they occur in the decision process
• How they differ by organisation type, size, or maturity
• Whether small interventions could help in real time

This pilot aims to answer those questions through collaborative, in-situ research.

What this is (and isn't)

This section aims to describe the shape of the pilot so you can see the nature and focus of the work, the commitments involved, and the boundaries that will protect participants.

This is:

• Collaborative research - understanding how digital work really happens in your organisation
• Structured reflection - getting distance and perspective on your own patterns
• Peer learning - comparing your experiences with other cultural organisations in the cohort
• A direct continuation of Beyond the Promise - testing whether the report's findings hold in live practice
• Lightweight and realistic - designed for limited capacity (2-3 hours per month)
• Honest and safe - a confidential space to explore what's genuinely hard

This isn't:

• Training or consultancy
• A pilot of specific tools or frameworks (those may follow if warranted)
• A performance review or audit
• An assumption that your organisation has a problem (we're investigating, not diagnosing)
• Everything shared will remain confidential to your organisation. Only anonymised, aggregated insights will appear in the research summary.

What we'll investigate

1. Do digital decisions feel difficult (and why)?

• Are decisions being made before strategy is clear?
• Who's actually involved, and who should be?
• What information is missing when choices are made?
• What goes wrong between "we've decided" and "we're doing it"?

2. Is capacity really the issue?

• How do you assess capacity before committing?
• What happens when it's misjudged?
• Who absorbs the strain?

3. Does learning stick?

• What happens to knowledge when projects finish or stall?
• Can new staff access past insights?
• Are mistakes repeated?

4. What's the real impact?

• Who is most affected by weak decision-making or capacity misalignment?
• What would "better" look like in practice?
• What's blocking improvement?

How it will work

The pilot will run for 12 weeks between April and July 2026 - the exact dates will be confirmed based on the availability of the organisations on the cohort.

But my plan is that the 12 weeks (whenever they run) will unfold like this:

Weeks 1-2: kick-off and setup

60-minute online group 'meet the cohort' kick-off call with the 2 people from each organisation. An online session with all participating organisations to introduce the pilot, outline the rhythm of the work, and agree shared expectations.

30-minute online organisation-specific setup call with the 2 people from each organisation. A short call with each organisation’s two participants to clarify their context, choose the types of decision moments to observe, and set up the reflection method that suits them best.

What happens:

• We discuss how digital decisions currently happen and what feels easy / what feels hard
• We will identify the types of digital work or decisions to observe (not necessarily specific projects, it could be ongoing decision moments, capacity conversations, or learning gaps as they arise)
• I will explain how to capture short reflections and what to notice
• We will agree on how each organisation will share reflections (Google Doc, email, Slack, voice note, etc)

Your participants:

• One "strategy/project sponsor" voice (someone who defines or approves digital decisions)
• One "delivery/doer" voice (someone who implements or manages digital work)

By end of Week 2, you'll have:

• Clarity on which aspects of your digital work to observe
• Two committed participants
• A simple reflection method set up
• Understanding of what you're curious to learn

Weeks 3-10: observation and reflection

Weekly rhythm:

1. Monday prompts (from me): Each week, I'll send 2-3 short prompts to guide reflection, for example:

• "Was a digital decision made this week? Who was involved, and how did it happen?"
• "Did you check capacity before saying yes to something new?"
• "Did you need to access past learning and insights? Could you locate what you needed?"
• "What frustrated, surprised, or went better than expected?"

2. Participant reflections (15-30 minutes per week): Respond to the prompts however we have agreed suits you best:

• A few bullet points in a shared doc
• A 2-3 minute voice memo
• A quick email or Slack message
• A screenshot or artifact with a short comment

Some weeks nothing notable happens, that's fine, just say so. Missed a week because you were too busy? Tell me that (it's probably relevant). Think your reflections are dull? They're probably not, but even if they are, patterns emerge across weeks, not in single entries.

I am after honest reality, not polished reporting.

Occasionally I'll send a quick follow-up question for clarification (+5-10 minutes).

3. Monthly group learning sessions (60 minutes per session, taking place in weeks 4, 8, and 12): Online sessions with all participating organisations to:

• Share anonymised observations
• Spot patterns across organisations
• Test assumptions ("Is this just us, or common?")
• Refine what we're investigating based on what emerges

How the monthly sessions will work: I'll share anonymised patterns I'm seeing across the cohort (never attributing specifics to anyone). Then we'll explore them together: "Does this sound familiar? What makes it hard to change? Is this a structural thing or a habit thing?"

You won't be put on the spot. Noone presents and noone has to defend their organisation. I'm expecting it will be more like: "Oh god, you too?" followed by "Okay but why do we all keep doing this?"

Participant workload across the pilot:

• Weekly reflection: approx 15-30 mins per person per week
• Occasional follow-up: +5-10 mins per week
• Monthly group sessions: 60 mins per month
• Kick-off & final sessions: 90 mins x 2

Total time commitment per participant: about 3 hours per month + initial/final sessions (90 mins each)

Weeks 11-12: synthesis and closing reflections

What happens: I analyse all of the reflections and session notes to produce:

1. Individual organisation Report (5-7 pages)

• Key patterns observed in your reflections
• Cite 3-5 specific moments that revealed challenges or strengths
• Comparison to cross-org patterns (are you typical or unique?)
• Suggest 3-4 actionable recommendations you could try immediately

2. Programme report (8-10 pages)

• Common patterns across all organisations
• Variations by org size/type/maturity
• Mapping to Beyond the Promise findings
• Hypotheses about root causes
• Recommendations for sector-level action

Final 90-minute group session to:

• Share what we've learned
• Identify possible levers for change

Who should join

If this sounds interesting, get in touch to discuss the pilot further: [email protected]

You're a good fit if:

• You're a cultural organisation (museum, gallery, theatre, heritage, festival, etc.)
• You have digital work happening (or decisions being made) that we can observe
• You sense something's not quite right with how digital decisions get made, capacity gets managed, or learning gets retained
• You can commit 2 people to participate (one strategy voice, one delivery voice)
• You're willing to be honest about what's difficult (this is research, not performance)
• You're genuinely curious about understanding your culture and behaviour patterns better

This pilot is designed for organisations that care about doing digital work more thoughtfully - the ones who suspect there’s probably a pattern causing the frustration or friction.

If that sounds like you, this is your chance to reflect and unpack it with others who feel the same.

You're probably not a good fit if:

• You're in crisis mode and can't think beyond next week
• Everything's working great and you don't see a problem
• You're looking for someone to fix your organisation right now
• You want tools/solutions immediately (we're investigating first)
• You can't commit the time to reflect and participate

What you get

During the pilot:

• Structured reflection space - get useful time and space to reflect on your own patterns
• Peer learning - compare your experiences with other cultural organisations facing similar challenges
• Expert facilitation - someone with 20 years experience leading, shaping, and delivering digital work listening seriously to your experience
• Pattern identification - see things about how your organisation works that you might not notice from inside
• Connection to others - build relationships with peers tackling the same frustrations

At the end:

• Individual organisation report (5-7 pages), your specific patterns, moments, and concrete recommendations, as well as a 1-pager summary for your board/exec
• Cross-organisation research summary (8-10 pages), anonymised findings showing what's universal vs. unique
• Actionable insights - things you could try immediately
• Clarity - understand whether problems are real, how big they are, and what levers exist
• First access to any Phase 2 intervention testing (if you want it and it's warranted)
• A record - documentation of your organisational patterns which can be useful for boards/teams/funders

What you won't get:

• Tools or solutions (not yet at least, we're investigating first)
• Judgment about how you work
• A consultant telling you what to do - you'll get observations and options, not instructions

Cost and participation model

This is a shared-cost research pilot, it is designed to be affordable:

• Small: less than £1m turnover or fewer than 20 staff - £600 (ex. VAT)
• Medium: £1-5m turnover or 20-100 staff - £900 (ex. VAT)
• Large: more than £5m turnover or more than 100 staff - £1,200 (ex. VAT)

Fees cover:

• All facilitation and prompts
• Monthly group learning sessions
• Individual and cross-organisation analysis and reporting
• Ongoing support and follow-up

Early-exit option

If by Week 6 it's clear this isn't working for your organisation for whatever reason, you can exit with a summary of insights gathered so far. No hard feelings - this is a collaboration, and the fit on both sides matters.

What I'm trying to learn

My research questions:

This pilot is designed to understand how digital decision-making, capacity management, and organisational learning actually unfold in real time. The research focuses on six connected areas:

1. Where and how these challenges appear: When and where do digital decision-making, capacity, and learning issues emerge in day-to-day work? What do they look like in practice?

2. What effects they have: How do these patterns affect delivery, morale, and outcomes? Who experiences the strain, and what forms does it take?

3. What drives them: What organisational, cultural, or structural factors allow these issues to persist? How do governance, funding models, or norms of practice contribute?

4. What helps or hinders change: Which behaviours, habits, or small interventions seem to make digital work easier (or harder) in real time?

5. How they vary: Do different types or sizes of organisations experience these issues differently? Are some problems universal, and others context-specific?

6. What can be learned collectively: What patterns are shared across organisations? What insights could inform new tools, frameworks, or sector-level support in the future?

Specific things I'll be observing:

• Decision moments: When digital decisions surface, who's involved, what information is (or isn't) available
• Capacity conversations: Whether they happen, when, who initiates them, what gets discussed (or avoided)
• Information gaps: When someone needs to know "what happened last time", can they find it? How long does it take?
• Patterns over time: Are the same problems recurring? Do people notice?
• Pain points: Where does friction show up? Who experiences it most?

Questions you might have:

1. Are we actually struggling, or is this just "normal"?
2. Is this just us, or does everyone deal with this?
3. What would "better" even look like?
4. Is change possible, or are these problems baked into how cultural organisations work?
5. Would fixing this actually matter or are there bigger issues?

We'll explore these together through observation and reflection

Action learning approach

This means:

• We learn by observing what's actually happening (not what we think happens)
• We reflect regularly on what we're noticing
• We test assumptions against reality
• Everyone's experience is valid data
• Honesty is more valuable than looking good
• "I don't know" is a perfectly good answer

In practice:

• You capture real moments as they happen (not sanitised versions)
• Monthly sessions are reflective, exploratory conversations, not presentations
• We spot patterns together across organisations
• We refine our understanding as we go
• There are no "wrong" observations

Selection criteria

I'm looking for diversity across:

• Organisation size (small / medium / large)
• Organisation type (museum, theatre, gallery, heritage, festival, etc.)
• Digital maturity (some more advanced, some developing)
• Geographic location (ideally the cohort would be Europe-based, purely for practicalities of timezones. If you are based outside Europe get in touch and we can work out what's realistic)
• Nature of challenges (different pain points should result in richer understanding)

The goal is a group that can learn from each other's different contexts. The pilot will include around 5-8 organisations, creating a manageable but usefully diverse group.

How to apply

Send an email (max 500 words) to [email protected] including:

• Your organisation's basic info:
  • Name, type, size (staff/budget), location
• What's hard right now (3-4 sentences)
  • When you think about digital decisions, capacity, or organisational learning, what frustrates you?
  • Be specific - what happened recently that felt difficult?
• Types of digital work we could observe
  • Not necessarily specific projects, it could be ongoing decision moments, capacity conversations, areas where you can't find past learning
  • We just need something real happening during the 12 weeks
• Who would participate
  • 2 people (names/roles):
    • One "strategy/leader" voice
    • One "delivery" voice
• What you're curious about (1 question)
  • What do you want to understand better about how your organisation works?
• Confirmation you can commit to:
  • 60-min+30-min kick-off sessions
  • 3 × 60-min monthly sessions
  • 15-30 mins honest reflection per person per week
  • 90-min final session
  • Payment of the relevant pilot fee

Timeline

• Friday 23rd January 2026 - deadline for applications
• Friday 6th March 2026 - confirmation of places
• April-May 2026 (exact date tbc) - pilot programme begins
• June-July 2026 (exact date tbc) - pilot programme ends

If you have any question, get in touch: [email protected]

FAQs

What if we're not sure we have these problems?

Perfect, that's exactly what we're testing. Maybe you don't, that's a valid research finding.

What if our digital work changes during the pilot?

That's fine. We're not locked into specific projects. We'll observe whatever digital decisions and work are actually happening.

Will our findings be shared publicly?

No. Individual results stay private. I'll only share anonymised, aggregated patterns across organisations.

What if a participant leaves mid-pilot?

You can nominate a replacement, or continue with one person. If the whole organisation needs to exit, see the early-exit option above.

Do we need to prepare anything?

No. Just show up honestly and reflect on what's happening as it happens.

Will this lead to paid consultancy or products?

There's no obligation. If a phase 2 happens and produces useful tools/approaches, you'll have the opportunity for input into what gets built and preferential access.

What if we discover real problems but can't fix them?

Sometimes clarity is the best first step. At a minimum, you'll understand what you're dealing with and have language to discuss it with your team/board.