Collections Trust CEO Nick Poole’s original PowerPoint presentation to delegates at the DAM for Museums Conference in November 2013. He puts his “10 Steps to a DAM Strategy” into context, explains why a strategy is needed, the important role of leadership, and some common pitfalls – all with a focus on successfully managing change.

1. Developing a DAM Strategy for your Museum
Nick Poole
CEO, Collections Trust

2. Contents
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Why a DAM Strategy?
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Before you begin
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Managing change
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What gets measured gets managed – the role of leadership
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10 Steps to Developing your DAM Strategy
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Common Pitfalls (and how to avoid them)

3. Why a DAM Strategy?
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Successful implementation of a Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) in
any organisation is not a question of technology, formats or processes
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Implementing a DAMS is a culture change which affects your whole
organisation and everyone working in it
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A DAM Strategy is, first and foremost, a communications tool – it is there to
tell everyone affected what is changing, how and why
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Developing a DAM Strategy allows you to connect everything you do with
your DAMS back to your core purpose, culture and values
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Failing to plan = planning to fail!

4. Before you begin
There are some useful questions to ask yourself...
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What are you hoping to achieve?
Who are you doing it for?
What do they need?
How will it benefit your organisation?
Who are the main people who need to be involved?
Do the people in charge have the skill to know what they’re doing?
Why are you doing it now?
What would ‘succeeding’ look like?
You are embarking on a wholesale culture change, at the end of which digital
assets need to be valued, managed and used across every part of the
museum.

5. Managing Change
There is no single approach to managing change, but there are some consistent
principles:
•Influence is important – change needs champions (both senior and staff)
•Communicate, communicate, communicate *
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WHY the change needs to happen
WHAT, precisely, you are proposing to do
WHEN the change will happen
HOW you will be implementing the change
* Which includes listening & asking questions

6. Managing Change
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People look to their peer-group for solidarity, support and advice
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People need to see before they believe – phased implementation, quick wins
and concrete examples all help
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Celebrate the small advances – quick wins & human psychology count for a
lot (cake, prizes, beer & badges make a big difference...)
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People need knowledge, skills and support to embed the change into their
working practice
Most DAMS implementations fail because the culture change is not seen through
consistently & with leadership, not because of the software

7. 10 Steps to a DAM Strategy!
#1 Talk to people
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Take a walk, have a staff meeting, go to the pub – whatever works
for your museum. Take time to talk to people about how they are
using pictures, video and information. Find out about their hopes,
fears and concerns and think about whether they are likely to be
an ally for your Strategy.

8. 10 Steps to a DAM Strategy!
#2 Identify some Use Cases
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Identify the main ways that Digital Assets are currently used in
your museum. You aren’t going to be able to satisfy everyone’s
needs so ask questions and try to distil the answers down to a few
simple activities (more complex/niche needs can be met later)
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Think about all of the different ways in which your museum might
need to use a single photograph – from marketing to collections,
learning to the shop
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Write them down & show them to everyone (putting them up on
the staff room wall helps)

9. 10 Steps to a DAM Strategy!
#3 Audit assets & systems
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Chances are you will already have a lot of digital assets in your
museum. Take some time to evaluate how much stuff you have, in
what formats. What rights and permissions are there? Are there
clear priorities which have to take precedence? What systems and
platforms are you using to store digital assets?
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As you are looking at what you already have, start to think about
a classification scheme – both in terms of types of assets and in
terms of their content.
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Create a visualisation or map of your existing assets & put it up on
the staff room wall (next to your Use Cases)

10. 10 Steps to a DAM Strategy!
#4 Identify stakeholders & allies
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Work out who has an impact on your DAM Strategy and make a
list of people who can help you. Who depends on it? Who can act
as a champion? Who has the most to lose from the changes you
are making?
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Think about pioneers, settlers and well-poisoners
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Write down your list of allies and potential well-poisoners (might
be best not to put this one up on the wall)

11. 10 Steps to a DAM Strategy!
#5 Talk to your vendor
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If you have a Collections Management System provider already,
talk to them about DAMS capability. Find out what your existing
tools can do & how digital assets & DAM workflow might
integrate into your existing practice.
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Identify other providers if necessary, but always take the time to
meet with them – an assessment grid won’t tell you whether they
buy into your organisation or will be there when you need them.

12. 10 Steps to a DAM Strategy!
#6 Develop a Business Case
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Your DAMS will need support and investment. It’s a lot easier to secure
these if you are clear about the costs of what you are doing and the
benefits you are hoping to achieve!
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Develop a Business Case which states:
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How DAM will help your museum achieve its Mission & purpose
What the problem is to which DAM is the solution
What the key milestones are for your museum
What kinds of value you are looking to create

13. 10 Steps to a DAM Strategy!
#7 Create a plan
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Create a clear plan of action for DAMS implementation and
beyond, identify key milestones and dates and tell people when
they are going to have a chance to get involved.
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Put your plan up on the wall in the staff room (and on the back of
the staff exit, if you have one)

14. 10 Steps to a DAM Strategy!
#8 Rollout in phases
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Try to go too far, too fast, and your DAM Strategy will fail. It is
better to start small and build support and momentum in
incremental phases.
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Always take time to celebrate the wins – a new user, a
department coming on board, a leaflet or website that got made.
People respond best when they keep hearing about the value
they’re getting back.

15. 10 Steps to a DAM Strategy!
#9 Integrate into practice
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A lack of adoption is the biggest barrier to success with Digital
Asset Management projects. Create a Digital Asset Management
Plan which integrates the creation, management, description and
use of your digital assets into the daily work of the whole
organisation.
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Consider writing ‘Digital Asset Management’ into job descriptions
and appraisals across the museum.

16. 10 Steps to a DAM Strategy!
#10 Create a community
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Digital Asset Management doesn’t stop with the implementation
of a system or a Digital Asset Management Plan, people need
ongoing help, a place to share ideas, new people need inducting.
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Create a DAM User Community in your museum, communicate &
meet regularly and feedback to senior management, celebrate
achievements and identify issues.

17. 10 Steps to a DAM Strategy
1.
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7.
8.
9.
10.
Talk to people
Identify Use Cases
Audit your existing assets & systems
Identify stakeholders & allies
Talk to your vendor
Develop a Business Case
Create a plan
Rollout in incremental phases
Integrate into your existing practice
Create an ongoing DAM community in your museum

18. Common pitfalls (and how to avoid them)
#1 Your project stalls (or never starts)
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DAM Strategies need leadership & momentum, are your senior champions
actively championing the project?
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Try creating a ‘burning platform’ (a compelling reason why the change has to
happen now or to ensure that the museum is ready for a specific event,
exhibition or funding opportunity)
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If all else fails – create a crisis (eg. the impending loss of your pictures)

19. Common pitfalls (and how to avoid them)
#2 Nobody is using your DAMS
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You can implement the best DAM Strategy in the world, and people may
simply not respond to the system
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Go back a few steps – are people clear on how digital assets impact on their
work, and the direct benefit to them of having a proper plan & system in
place?
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Run a consultation/user-group/survey (anonymous if necessary) and listen to
what people are saying about the system without getting defensive!

20. Common pitfalls (and how to avoid them)
#3 “My department comes first...”
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You will come under political pressure to keep one specific user group or
department happy (either because they have influence, or money, or are
more organised)
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Be clear about the overall plan & the points at which you will deliver specific
value for that team or department
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Focus on core or shared functionality first – things everyone needs to be able
to do – and try and hold niche/specialist requirements to a later phase

21. Common pitfalls (and how to avoid them)
#4 System A can’t see System B
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DAMS that depend on complex middleware can be a nightmare to integrate
into existing practice.
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Always try and stay close to the platforms & systems you are using/people are
comfortable with already and explore their DAMS functionality before
branching out into more complex solutions.

22. Conclusions
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There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ approach to the development of a Digital Asset
Management Strategy for your museum
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What you create needs to be sensitive to your needs, capacity, resources
activities and plans – but most of all it needs to be useful
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Developing, rolling out and supporting a DAM Strategy in the long-term is a
process of change-management
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A DAM Strategy has far more to do with psychology, motivation and people
than it does with technology, file formats or metadata schemata

23. Take it further
Visit the Collections Trust’s DAM resources:
http://www.collectionslink.org.uk/spectrum-dam-resources
Download ‘SPECTRUM Digital Asset Management’
http://www.collectionslink.org.uk/spectrum-dam
Use our Digital Benchmarking Tool
http://www.collectionslink.org.uk/digital-benchmarks-for-the-culture-sector
Sign up to Collections Link:
http://www.collectionslink.org.uk
Join our LinkedIn community:
http://www.linkedin.com (search ‘Collections Management’)