Like any network (social or computational) there will likely be fault messages, system errors, and ad hoc reconfigurations: focus on solutions. Mistakes are made. If something goes wrong, spread solutions, not blame. A smoothly run, successful project doesn’t mean no mistakes are made, just that they are corrected expeditiously and friction is kept to a minimum. Display commitment. Sometimes people get excited. Their money and job may be on the line. Many are not accustomed to the kind of pressure associated with construction projects. Stay calm and be diplomatic. We’ll all see the job through. Visible commitment and leadership will instill confidence. Success is in the orchestration.

Reoccurring challenges:

It’s a networked world — consulting and construction expertise does not need to be entirely sourced locally: recruit the right team.

Unfamiliar internal teaming that pairs communication and facilities or marketing and real estate for the first time may require détente .

Multiple funding sources adds difficulty to the project process in the form of multiple owners, allocations, accountings, and audit trails.

Filtered access and/or limiting engagements with the ultimate decision maker(s) requires too much reliance on team telepathy.

Project phasing that isn’t followed disrupts a strategized sequence of decision making and alters spending and outcomes.

Failure to invest in ongoing curation of the assets — and refresh of the content — following a successful install and launch.

Lots of reviewers but no approvers: command and control organizations are often more expedient than consensus cultures.

Project process and deliverables that are too unfamiliar and too different from the everyday duties of marketing and facilities can be derailing.

Multiple consultants invested in diverse visions of the goal must be reconciled early with a united allegiance paid to the go-forward direction.

Poorly thought through ideas presented via realistic 3D renderings can create client expectations that will require the application of magic or money to accomplish.

Few fathers of risk, many fathers of success: once a high profile initiative begins to look successful, more ownership appears — late to the decision making and eager to now engage — including the review of established strategy and the revisiting of prior choices.

Where projects are pioneering new ground and pushing envelopes, familiarity and catalog products and precedents and repetitive work will rarely be the norm. The joy in invention is often balanced by the challenges it creates and project management must be adaptive.