Open Forum

Dear museum colleagues,

I'm Uma Nair, a consultant and former museum employee focused on project management, systems thinking, and operational strategy. I'm currently writing a book through AAM on project management for museums, and I'd love your input through this anonymous survey. 

The goal of the survey is to understand what digital tools museum professionals are using on a day-to-day basis, the challenges you face with these tools, and what you wish they (and you) could do better.

This survey is for everyone in the museum field, anywhere in the world, full-time or part-time staff, volunteers, interns, contractors, or consultants, and regardless of role, department, specialization, or seniority. 

The information you share is incredibly valuable because it will help me understand broader trends and patterns in how museum professionals use digital tools, and confirm and add to what I've experienced in the field. It will also help me develop and share in the book stronger examples and best practices for using the tools you already have, more efficiently and effectively.

The survey is completely anonymous and should take about 5–7 minutes. Here's the link: https://forms.gle/1AgSorD7H3gFQVFG9

If you're open to a follow-up conversation, feel free to reply to this post or email me at uma@thestrategicmuseum.com (this keeps the survey itself anonymous).

The survey is open until August 21, 2025. Please share your input before then! And please share the link widely with your museum colleagues as well.

Thank you so much for helping shape this work. 

Best, Uma

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Uma Nair
Los Angeles, CA
https://www.linkedin.com/in/umanair/
uma@thestrategicmuseum.com
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Thank you to everyone who took and shared the survey. The response has been fantastic and incredibly helpful!

You overwhelmingly asked for the summary to be published, so I'll be back soon with highlights and key findings 🙌🏽. The initial review points to a consistent theme: the need for stronger alignment in communication, tools, and leadership to support more effective and sustainable project management in museums (but we all knew that already, right?).

What I'm especially grateful for (and not-so-secretly thrilled to explore in the book) are the detailed insights most of you shared: the specific challenges and frustrations you face in your day-to-day work with tools, project management, and communication practices. I'll do my best to summarize and share these because I think it will benefit our community enormously, if nothing else, to remind us that none of us are alone in these struggles. :)

Just a note: the survey will close today, August 21, 2025, at 5pm PST.

Warmly,

Uma

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Uma Nair
Los Angeles, CA
thestrategicmuseum.com
uma@thestrategicmuseum.com
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