Keep Your Project Germ-free - Use live Project Post Mortems
Isnt it better to wash your hands than to catch a cold
?
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that hand washing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to prevent the spread of many types of infection and illness.
Similar to washing your hands to avoid getting sick, project post mortem methodologies should be used as preventive care rather than just as an autopsy after your projects death.
We have all been part of a disappointing project. Many of us have even led them. Projects fail all the time. In fact, research suggests that failed projects are in the large majority. With the odds against you, experts advise looking at what went wrong to avoid future failure.
Certainly project post mortems are a powerful tool in learning from the past. More importantly, we have found that the insights gained can help current projects stay healthy as well.
Rather than an autopsy after the fact, do live post mortems throughout the project life-cycle to handle what could go wrong before it does. There are three critical times when this analysis could be life saving:
1. Project Kickoff: We can often predict the success of a project by the way it is launched. Successful project leaders invest heavily in developing a clear business case, involve all key stakeholders, and ensure that their team has clear goals, roles, processes, and plans before moving to action. After your team has created the initial project plan, do your first live post mortem to put your project on the right path.
Start by asking your team to envision that the project has just finished and that it has unfortunately failed. Then ask them to get into small teams and identify and prioritize all the reasons that caused the project to be unsuccessful. Have the team report back to the group, get feedback, and begin to combine and reprioritize the greatest pressure points and obstacles that led to your hypothetical nose dive. Once the process is complete, alter your original plans based on your top priorities. This quick activity helps the project team, sponsor, and stakeholders to mitigate risk and be prepared to identify early signs of project trouble. We have yet to run this activity without getting a few big Ahas.
2. Key Milestones: Project plans must always be adjusted to handle all of the twists and turns of even the most basic assignments. With each key deliverable you have a great opportunity to step back, assess strengths and weaknesses, and adjust your plan based upon stakeholder feedback and the current realities faced by your project team. We continue to be amazed at how fruitful and underutilized mid-project post mortems can be. The more complex the project and the greater the time pressure, the more time and angst you will save yourself and your team by taking the time to get on the same page and recalibrating your next steps. Spending a little bit of time to take stock throughout the project will pay big dividends.
3. Project Completion: Once the project is done, it is tempting to move immediately on to bigger and better things. But dont be in such a hurry. If projects are the lifeblood of your organization, it is critical that you identify, catalog, and share lessons learned from each and every project. Done right, project post mortems provide closure, increase skills and knowledge, and create a set of actionable ideas for improving future projects.
Regardless of the timing, remember that an effective post-mortem creates trust among the project team members, ensures that peoples concerns are fairly heard, and concentrates on specific improvements - not blame. With a reputation for trust, fairness and continuous improvement, future project odds are in your favor.
by: Russ Silva
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