Learning Solutions for Increased Project Performance

Welcome to Our May Issue

This month we’ll be taking a look at project closing and the activities that surround it. This is a stage often neglected by many project managers and organizations, but there is a lot to learn from closing a project properly.

Included in this issue:

• Taking a Strategic Approach to Lessons Learned
• Don’t Forget to Celebrate a Successful Project
• Post-Launch Reviews
• What Does ‘Closed’ Look Like?
• Final Project Communications
• Creating a Closing To-Do List

Next Issue: Time Management

Note: Project Management Q&A will return next month.

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pmPractitioner is published as a service to the project management community. Each issue provides practical project management solutions and tips adapted from a variety of business publications and resources.

Taking a Strategic Approach to Lessons Learned

The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines lessons learned as “the learning gained from the process of performing the project.”  Often, the Lessons Learned (LL) process consists simply of meeting to record successes and failures and then filing them, perhaps to be used as a way to fix specific things on a later project. While this approach produces results, its implementation tends to be a backwards looking step instead of a forward looking process.

A better way to approach LL is strategically – using what we find to determine actions that will increase capability and better the outcomes of future projects through process improvement. Frequently, LL is used to determine failures and figure out who is responsible – ensuring that valuable time is spent on deflecting blame. Taking a strategic approach, however, distances LL from being a fault-finding exercise and encourages team members to openly discuss real issues and better processes.

Let’s compare traditional vs. strategic viewpoints on Lessons Learned:

Traditional: Focused on past experience as a mechanism to fix specific things in later projects.
Strategic: Forward-looking and mobilizes action to improve capability.

Traditional: “What worked and what didn’t work well.”
Strategic: “What impacts the outcomes we want in the future.”

Traditional: Often “bottoms-up” without clear management imperative (or support).
Strategic: Executive Sponsor commissions the Lessons Learned and drives follow-up.

Traditional: Most often drives incremental improvements.
Strategic: Can be a catalyst for transforming the way we think, make decisions and execute work across boundaries.

Traditional: Buy-in to implementation varies.
Strategic: There is intentional systemic implementation.

With proper support, solid processes, commitment and regular practice, organizations can learn more effectively from Lessons Learned and improve upon their success.

From Action for Results, Inc.

Don’t Forget to Celebrate a Successful Project

First of all, what is a successful project? Success should be defined at the early stages of planning the project. At closing, go back to that definition and ask yourself (and your team) these questions:

• Were the success factors achieved?
• Do the stakeholders and end-users view the project product in a positive manner?
• Was the project well-managed?
• Did the team work well together and know what was going right and wrong?

If all indications are that you’ve executed the project satisfactorily, then it is important to recognize and celebrate the people that have made it happen. If individuals are singled out for significant achievements, don’t forget to recognize the entire team as well.

Informal Recognition

There are many ways to reward people for a job well done: an informal after work gathering or a lunch-time pizza celebration. If it’s a particularly significant project, you could provide T-shirts or mugs that commemorate the event.

Formal Recognition

Management may also want to express recognition of a successful team effort by praising the team at a key meeting or a large group gathering. People are proud to have senior management appreciation stated, and such recognition sets the stage for future successful work. Be sure to investigate any recognition programs your organization may already have in place for outstanding team or individual performance.

Adapted from Project Management Methodology, Kansas Information Technology Office (KITO), State of Kansas

The Importance of Post Launch Reviews

Post Launch Reviews are proof positive that there is a lot more to closing a project than meets the eye.  An initial Post Launch Review should take place 2-4 months after the first product launch, when sufficient results become available. This vital review should concentrate on understanding key learnings from the initial product launch so that those can be immediately applied to consecutive launches.  This may also include a project Lessons Learned if one was not held previously.

A final Post-Launch Review is typically held when the product has had sufficient time in the market (12-18 months) so that the results and trends are known.  Evaluation of performance against previously established success metrics, including financial indicators such as forecasted revenue vs. actual revenue, should be part of the review.

During the review, key performance indicators should be used so that the team and the business will be able to:

• Evaluate accuracy of short-term forecasts, and longer-term assumptions and projections.
• Provide a mechanism to understand what changed from original assumptions (and why).
• Take necessary actions for course corrections.
• Identify additional/new opportunities for optimizing revenue and profits.

As a result of the review, action plans are developed to ensure further optimization of the product in the market place.

From Action for Results, Inc.

What Does “Closed” Look Like?

Start thinking about what ‘closed’ looks like early in the project. There are some straightforward things that equal ‘closed’ such as making sure all tasks are completed, all issues are resolved, all risks have been mitigated or accepted and closed. But what else, specific to your project, will mean that the project is closed?

Consider:

• When will you issue a final project communication about project closure?
• Who will the final project communication come from?
• How will you help the project team transition to new projects?
• What will you do if you can’t close all actions, risks and issues? Who will pick up anything outstanding?

Finally, consider how long the closure phase will last. Don’t underestimate the amount of work required to wrap up a project adequately and hand it over to support. Although, admittedly, the work will begin to tail off, so you can start picking up other projects during the closure phase.

From Closing a Project, Elizabeth Harrin, PM4Girls

Final Project Communications

As your project is completed, there are a few communications that need to go out that will signal its closing to your stakeholders.

Here’s who should get what:

• Project Sponsor: Final status report; learnings summarized; recognition of accomplishment
• Project Team Members: Recognition of effort and accomplishment; performance review input
• Functional Managers: Pertinent project information e.g., final status report; expectations for their role after completion; performance feedback for direct reports who participated in the project
• Customers/Clients: Declaration of completion once users have accepted the project’s product; follow-up review meeting (typically 90 days after acceptance)

From Action for Results, Inc.

Creating a Closing To Do List

You completed your project on deadline and you’re feeling pretty good. Suddenly, you remember all the changes along the way that reduced the project’s intended impact. And the aspects of the project you set aside to pick up again after the “first phase” was over. (Maybe you’re not as “done” as you imagined?)

Your organization likely invested in your project because it would deliver certain outcomes and benefits. To achieve the results promised, the project must be implemented as close to the original specifications as possible. Now is the time to track down the compromises and trade-offs and finish what you started.

These steps will help you identify the remaining tasks and develop a thorough to-do list:

• Reacquaint Yourself With the Project: Gather all the project documents you can find: schedules, status reports, change orders, issue logs, meeting notes and requirements documents. Sort these items into chronological order and review each in detail to help you remember events and activities.
• Develop a Project History: Locate items such as schedule changes, changes of scope, challenges to key assumptions, personnel changes – anything that seems to have altered the project from its original state. This information will become a rudimentary project history.
• Talk to the Team: Share your initial draft of the history with your project team. Ask them to note what else was taking place during the various phases of the project. Incorporate these notes into the project history.
• Create a To-Do List: Review the history to find aspects of the project that were either reduced from the original plan or omitted entirely. Identify temporary additions, short-term work-arounds and other less-than-optimal solutions. Include all of these items on your to-do list.
• Prioritize Your List: If, as is likely, you have more tasks than can be completed in the near term, prioritization and sequencing of your to-do list is required. Consider ROI, risk, difficulty and the linkages between the items to determine what can be accomplished and when.

Now you’ve completed an organized project to-do list that is the only thing standing between you, a truly finished implementation, and the hard-earned reward of your choice.

From Project Post-Mortem, Judson A. Puterbaugh, The Progress Group