Buried History

How to lead a project without the project leader.

Design challengE

Make a user-friendly digital walking tour of the financial district of San Francisco highlighting various historic locations, including the changing shoreline, ships buried to make landfill, Ohlone cultural sites, and cisterns of the early SF fire department. Translate from a mobile platform to a stationary exhibit in the museum. Integrate three AR experiences into the tour. Create an interactive map that functions on mobile and for the museum exhibit showing historical data relevant to the project.

My RolE

Project manager I was brought to manage the project after it had completely fallen apart. The UX designer had left the institution, the project leader, who was responsible for the map and AR work, had been on medical leave for more than a year, and no progress had been made that could be reported to the NEH in our annual grant reporting. Advisors had been left hanging, the team was in a panic, and I knew nothing about the work. We were also in the middle of migrating the site from Drupal 7 CMS to Drupal 9, and the project was timed poorly to be complete six weeks after the launch of D9.

Design ProcESS

The web design existed as mockups but had to be re-created in Drupal 9, which was new to the team, without any guidance or contact with the original designer or the project lead. No mapping or AR work had been completed. The audio component of the tour was still less than halfway done, and the person doing that work was laid off during the course of the project.

Solutions

Recruited Chief Science Officer to oversee the leadership of the project and communicate with our advisors.
Got audio person re-hired on a contract to finish the work.
Divided web design and development work between multiple team members so they could each learn a specific part of the new system.
Hired a consultant to complete the mapping portion of the work.
Maintained the legal boundaries and HR compliance for the project leader who wanted to work while on medical leave.
Launched as a microsite within Drupal 9 to simplify potential migration issues.

Measures of Success

Satisfaction of the grant deliverables. 

Funder enthusiasm for the project maintained.

Mostly hid our difficulties from them.

Key learnings

No project is impossible.