In highly regulated industries, a website is not just a marketing asset; it is a compliance obligation, a credibility signal, and a reflection of operational maturity. For this rapidly scaling life sciences organization, years of acquisition-driven growth had left its digital presence fragmented, outdated, and increasingly exposed to regulatory scrutiny. With FDA expectations rising and a non-negotiable launch date looming, leadership faced a critical question: how to deliver a compliant, unified website at speed without sacrificing quality or control. MustardSeed was engaged to provide the project leadership, governance, and operating discipline needed to turn an at-risk initiative into an executable, on-time launch.

The Challenge: A Broken, Non-Compliant Website With an Impossible Deadline

A rapidly scaling life sciences organization had grown through a series of acquisitions, but its website had not evolved with it. The digital experience was scattered across multiple legacy business sites, making it nearly impossible for visitors to understand:

• What the organization actually does
• How its scientific and research services create value
• How donor programs operate
• Why physicians, researchers, and partners rely on them

For regulators, the problem was more serious. The existing site did not meet FDA expectations, and leadership faced increasing pressure to correct it.

To raise the stakes further, the organization set a non-negotiable launch date of December 1, compressing what should have been a four-month effort into six weeks.

When MustardSeed stepped in:

• No content requirements had been defined
• Reviewers were unknown, misidentified, or missing
• 90+ webpages were being reviewed through scattered email threads
• Legal approval was required but completely unmanaged
• The previous project manager was spending only 2 hours per week on the initiative
• Critical stakeholders were disengaged due to lack of structure

This was a high-stakes, highly regulated, multi-stakeholder project, and the clock was already running out.

The Solution: Building the Operating System Needed to Deliver at Speed

MustardSeed was engaged to take over the initiative midstream, establish governance, and lead the team to a December launch.

1. Bringing Order to a 90-Page, Multi-Stakeholder Website

The first step was establishing a single, governed operating structure for the entire website.

MustardSeed:

• Broke down the entire 90+ page website into a structured Trello system
• Assigned owners, reviewers, and approvers for every page
• Clarified decision rights and review responsibilities
• Created parallel reporting in Excel for executive leaders who preferred that format
• Mapped content gaps and identified pages requiring major rewrite vs. simple revision

This became the master operating system for the project, replacing hundreds of unmanaged emails.

2. Transforming Disjointed Reviews Into a Streamlined, Scalable Workflow

Before MustardSeed, reviewers were providing feedback via email, often conflicting and duplicative. 

After MustardSeed:

• All feedback was centralized in Trello
• Legal review became a defined, trackable step
• The external marketing partner received consolidated, clear direction
• Ownership ambiguities were resolved (and, in many cases, new reviewers emerged who hadn’t been identified previously)

In the process, MustardSeed helped the client remove more than 60 pages/sections that were unnecessary for the initial release; this was a critical efficiency gain that made the rigorous timeline possible.

3. Bringing Executive Visibility and Momentum to a Stalled Project

Given the regulatory stakes and compressed timeline, MustardSeed established a high-frequency reporting rhythm:

• Daily end-of-day progress summaries
• Highlighted risks, blockers, and pages falling behind
• Prompted VP-level engagement when reviews stalled
• Maintained alignment between Trello and Excel so every stakeholder had visibility in their preferred format

This cadence unlocked consistent engagement from leaders who previously weren’t participating (an essential shift for meeting the deadline).

4. Managing Regulatory and Leadership Pressure Without Sacrificing Quality

FDA expectations required accuracy, clarity, and compliance. At the same time, executive leadership held firm: the site must launch in December.

MustardSeed managed this set of competing demands by:

• Distinguishing what must be included for launch vs. what could be added in post-launch iterations
• Ensuring regulatory-sensitive content received appropriate review
• Setting realistic expectations while honoring the mandate
• Keeping internal and external teams synchronized on what was achievable within the window

This balanced rigor with speed, allowing the team to hit the December deadline without compromising compliance.

The Outcomes: A Cohesive, Compliant Website Delivered at Record Speed

By bringing order, visibility, and discipline to the initiative, MustardSeed enabled the organization to:

• Launch a unified digital experience that clearly articulated its science, mission, and services
• Bring an unstructured 90+ page website into a governed workflow within days
• Reduce site scope by more than 60 pages/sections for a manageable initial release
• Achieve consistent engagement from VPs, Legal, and SMEs
• Move from disconnected email threads to a centralized, predictable review system
• Meet an aggressive, non-negotiable regulatory deadline

Review efficiency improved dramatically:

• Review cycle time was reduced from approximately one week to one day
• Legal completed initial review, feedback, re-review, and final approval within three days
• By using Trello to clearly signal when pages were ready and by relying on structured change documentation, reviewers focused only on what had changed rather than re-reviewing entire pages
• This streamlined approach reduced time spent in the review process by up to 60%

This delivery timeline is significantly faster than industry norms, especially considering the volume of content, number of stakeholders, regulatory constraints and complete absence of initial structure.

Strategic Takeaway: The Right Leadership Turns Impossibility Into Execution

This engagement demonstrates a core truth: Speed doesn’t come from pushing harder; it comes from establishing clarity, ownership and governance.

By implementing the right operating rhythms and decision frameworks, MustardSeed transformed a high-risk, multi-stakeholder initiative into a coordinated, compliant launch.

The result: A website that finally reflects who the organization is, and a delivery model that proves what disciplined project leadership can achieve under pressure.

Client Confidentiality

We respect the privacy of the organizations that trust us to embed within their teams. For that reason, we do not publicly disclose client names or partner names in our case studies. If you would like to verify our impact and speak directly with a reference, we are happy to facilitate introductions.