Outcomes

What museums produce for the public — and how to measure it.

Recent activity

Kyle Bowenin The Progress Report · May 15

The Chia Pet Principle

You’ve been in a meeting where someone says, “We need more data,” and kills all the forward momentum. They don’t (always) intend to be that guy , but they are, and, since they’re importing a standard that is actually…

Outcomes
Kyle Bowenin The Progress Report · Apr 28

Make him hit the ball

The man beside me at the game last week wore a hat that read “90 never looked so good”, but the “0” had been taped over — the number “6” written over it with a Sharpie. Before nearly every pitch, he’d call out, “Make…

Outcomes
Kyle Bowenin The Progress Report · Mar 17

What Outcomes Is Your Institution Uniquely Suited to Support?

Psychologist Kurt Lewin said, “There is nothing as practical as a good theory”. It’s a good quote on the surface and below the surface, where you get a taste of the frustration an abstract thinker can feel when…

Outcomes
Kyle Bowenin The Progress Report · Mar 10

When Outcomes Thinking Is ‘Advanced’, It Never Becomes Foundational

Before we started using participant outcomes as a prioritization device, our process for helping museums identify valuable user goals took longer. It was a repeatable process, but it was one built on the assumption…

Outcomes
John H Falkin The Progress Report · Mar 3

New Arguments for Museum Value

Three museum directors took the research in this post into real stakeholder conversations last year — with a provincial government ministry, foundation officers, and a capital campaign team. Below, John Falk lays out…

Outcomes
Kyle Bowenin The Progress Report · Feb 24

The shape of the problem should shape the gathering

Two weeks ago, I shared the thirteen structural variables behind every gathering and asked for your help. Seventeen of you responded, and the pattern in your answers surprised me: no one was missing a piece of…

Outcomes