Art Agency Eliminates Spreadsheets with Airtable

Overview (TLDR)

A VIP client that facilitates the curation of independent art pieces for commercial properties like hotels and corporate offices came to us recently with a few key problems that needed solving in their operations. 

The client was finally ready to take the next step to streamline their operations and was in need of:

1. More efficient communication channels for project teams

2. Better visibility into project timelines, and

3. Ready access to mission critical documents and project details.

They commissioned our team to design and develop an Airtable-based solution.

Within three months, we helped the client develop a tailor-fit operations management system that solved each of their primary pain points for less than the cost of a week’s payroll.

The result was an Airtable system that:

1. Enables managers to automate the planning of full project schedules for new client engagements at the click of a button using templated task lists that adjust due dates according to project size and complexity 

2. Streamlines the collaboration between internal teams (art curation and project management) by establishing one unified source-of-truth system for daily operations

3. Isolates information required for focused daily task management and execution while still integrating seamlessly with the existing enterprise resource planning system at large

Below we go into the details of how the client realized they needed help, and how they worked to solve key business problems that were costing time and money.

Problems To Be Solved

It was the client's objective to solve a specific set of problems in their operations:

1. Project teams were lacking efficient channels of communication for day-to-day client work

2. Project managers had no visibility into the project status and current progress with respect to the expected timeline

3. Mission-critical documents, web links, and project details were not readily accessible to art curators and project managers when they needed them most

The End Results

The client was able to build a tailor-fit project management system using Airtable that enables the following functionality for less than the cost of a week’s payroll:

1. Enables managers to automate the planning of full project schedules for new client engagements at the click of a button using templated task lists that adjust due dates according to project size and complexity

2. Streamlines the collaboration between internal teams (art curation and project management) by establishing one unified source-of-truth system for daily operations

3. Isolates information required for focused daily task management and execution while still integrating seamlessly with the existing enterprise resource planning system at large

The Journey of Our Client

1. The Realization

The client realized that current project management systems in use were not capturing the complexity needed to manage the micro details of their work projects.

Solutions like spreadsheets were flexible but quickly became a mess as projects became more and more complex, and as the internal teams grew in size.

Once it became apparent that conditions would not improve without a new solution, the CEO began the search for a new one.

Multiple options seemed viable, but most would require a shrinking amount of precious time and internal resources to fit a new software around their operations without outside help.

While the client was previously successful in building their own enterprise resource planning system from scratch, updates required many man hours to deploy safely and the system wasn’t able to quickly adapt to the changing needs of their operations teams.

Beyond that, task management was a whole separate beast still unaddressed by their software.

The CEO sought for a better solution that could bend and flex -- less like a plank and more like a diving board -- that would propel their productivity and efficiency to the next level while giving them clarity over their project timelines and work items.

Of the alternative solutions, Airtable rose to the top of the barrel.

Airtable proved itself to be an solution that was:

• Powerful enough to manage the complexity of projects that spanned months and even years

• Robust enough to integrate with their existing business systems and multiply value created instead of generating unnecessary user burden and fatigue

• Simple enough to use that internal teams could manage and tinker with the system with gentle guidance as business needs change

Having found a viable potential platform to build a dynamic operations system on top of, our client proceeded onward.

2. The Discovery Process

The next logical step was to find an expert who could use Airtable to deliver the desired results, which they trusted to be Park West Digital.

Immediately upon engaging with us, the client tested the waters with us by first scoping a smaller project for an Airtable-based Sales Pipeline management tool which we delivered with success within days.

Assured of our ability to deliver quality results, the client engaged our team further to begin ideating on a broader project management solution to simplify their work processes and bring their teams together.

Our initial discovery meetings consisted of dialogue between the CEO, project managers, art curators, client team developers, and our team in order to: 

1. Articulate specific details about their current pain points and imagine the desired solutions

2. Allow us to shadow their team as they demoed their current processes live

3. Ensure we understood their current systems and how to properly integrate with them

We also interviewed various internal stakeholders to gain a better understanding of how to optimize the usability of the system according to the team’s actual day-to-day needs.

Within just a couple of short weeks, the client had communicated clearly the problems to be solved and what the desired solution should look like, so we set out to start to build iteratively with the primary stakeholders.

3. The Build Process

The desired functionality was developed piece by piece with weekly team check-in to share feedback on build progress and level-set on the next sprint’s priorities. 

As we built the client’s solution, our process was to:

1. Develop an initial model of the Airtable database that would organize the information needed for the system based on the requirements defined by the client.

2. Build out a user experience within the visual database to allow the client’s team to quickly and easily browse and manipulate their art costing and planning data as needed.

3. Test our work progress internally and with the client to ensure the highest quality of work.

4. Gain feedback from the client on the strengths and weaknesses of the current iteration, and propose then implement solutions until the requirements were met.

Once a stable solution was achieved, it was time for the exciting part – to release the client’s new system into the wild to be tested (with training wheels) by the broader team.

4. The Launch Process

While there were learning curve hiccups that we had to overcome as the solution was deployed in phases, overall, a dedicated and engaged team guided by system and business experts made the transition to Airtable efficient and effective. 

With an eager team and buy-in for the solution, jumping hurdles and obstacles related to bugs and workflow quirks turned and continues to turn out to be an enjoyable part of the solution’s growth and evolution.

Closing

In the end, the system delivered met and exceeded the expectations of the client. The client was able to efficiently build a tailor-fit project management system that:

1. Enables managers to automate the planning of full project schedules for new client engagements at the click of a button using templated task lists that adjust due dates according to project size and complexity 

2. Streamlines the collaboration between internal teams (art curation and project management) by establishing one unified source-of-truth system for daily operations

3. Isolates information required for focused daily task management and execution while still integrating seamlessly with the existing enterprise resource planning system at large

As we reflect on the success of developing a customized project management system that elevates the magic of our client’s business, we can only look forward to building even better, more useful systems for this client and future ones. 

If building a unified platform to power your business operations is of interest to you, learn more about how we can help on our website.