“On time and on budget”: Harnessing creativity in large scale projects

Keeping large scale projects “on time and on budget” is no trivial accomplishment, especially when they rely on creative contributions from multiple individuals and groups that cannot be precisely timed. Simultaneously delivering on all of these aspects requires a flexible and nuanced approach to controls that builds on the discipline instilled in professional practice. We substantiate this insight with 82-day ethnography of a dramatic television series production as it unfolded in real-time. Our analyses reveal three distinct practices enacted by project members to (re)balance creativity within the parameters of the project: 1) analogically linking controls with creative tasks; 2) (in)formally attuning creative tasks to controls as the project unfolds; and 3) (re)allocating scarce resources to realize creative aspirations of the project. Taken together, these practices organically but predictably (re)balance creativity and control in large scale projects.