Planning a Project Post-Mortem

Planning a Project Post-Mortem (#1 in the series Planning a Project Post-Mortem)
By Gina Lijoi

In order to continuously improve your organizational process, a Project Manager should conduct a post-mortem (also known as a post-implementation review) once each project has reached completion. No two projects are alike – each will have its own nuances, so taking the time to understand why a project did or did not go smoothly is an invaluable way of learning how adapting you process can lead to greater success. Any resource that participated in your project must be included in your post-mortem review. While some organizations will invite clients into the review, this can be a difficult and awkward decision, for fear of exposing internal weaknesses to your customers. It’s not mandatory, but client participation will certainly result in a more comprehensive and holistic assessment.

Setting Expectations: The goal of your post-mortem is to identify the challenges your team and/ or client experienced in a given project, pin-point the source of each issue, and determine what could be changed in your current process to improve these specific challenges. Although it may be difficult to avoid blame as your team shares their frustrations and experiences with one another, there are tactics you can employ to minimize negativity and focus on more constructive feedback.

Deciding on a Format: A post-mortem can be a laborious activity. Multiple stakeholders will participate, and once feedback is gathered, it must be acted upon. Depending on the volume and nature of issues that are raised by the team, a post-mortem can represent a significant amount of documentation, brainstorming, and implementation. Let’s break down these phases –

  • Information gathering: An effective method for gathering team feedback is to issue a common survey to each resource. Individuals should complete the survey on their own, prior to meeting as a group, and the survey should be focused on a single project. The survey should ask team members to discuss their own experience by commenting on personal successes and challenges at each project phase (planning, definition, documentation, production, quality assurance, etc.). When creating the survey, it’s very important that each resource comment on their own contribution – what they felt they did well, and where they struggled. Asking resources to assess their own experience will prevent finger-pointing and result in a more constructive post-mortem. Collectively, this feedback will become the material from which you will identify opportunities for process improvement.
  • Team ideation: Once all resources have submitted their survey response, team managers should review the data together and synthesize the information. Look for patterns or issues that are raised by all departments, and then identify challenges that were specific to each department. Having the managers organize responses prior to a team meeting will help streamline the group discussion. Once the managers have completed this task, it’s time to have the entire team assemble to review the survey results. The managers should present the common and departmental challenges one by one, allowing the group to brainstorm possible process improvements that address each challenge.

At this point, you have solicited feedback from your team on a specific project, and the information has been synthesized and shared in a brainstorming session. Potential process improvements have been determined, and it’s time to close the loop and act on the information. Below, the final phase of a post-mortem is described.

  • Implementation of process improvements: As a Project Manager, once decisions have been reached internally about how your current process could be optimized, it is your responsibility to implement these changes in future projects. If your current process is documented, work from this material to incorporate and formalize the changes in writing. If you have a project timeline template, the changes should also be reflected there. Regardless, the changes need to be communicated to the entire production staff – particularly since some individuals may not have participated in the project post-mortem. Ideally, this communication will take place at an all-staff meeting. What the team needs at this point are the highlights of key changes – how will these change affect each department? How can they prepare for the changes? People are more willing to adapt to change if they know what to expect.

A project post-mortem is one of the most valuable methods available for analyzing weaknesses in a project lifecycle. It gives team members an outlet for their feedback, and provides new perspectives to the Project Manager, who is sometimes too close to the process to assess it objectively.

Gina Lijoi has worked in the online space for eight years, and is currently the Director of Fulfillment at WebFeat Multimedia Inc., in Toronto. In this role, Gina is responsible for strategy, methodology, pricing, scoping and execution of client initiatives. She is passionate about how marketing is affected by technology and trends in social media.

http://ginalijoi.blogspot.com

PMHut Team

PMHut Team

PMHut.com is a website dedicated to providing PM articles, detailed project management software reviews, and the latest news for the most popular web-based collaboration tools.

4 Responses

  1. Avatar Mike Greer says:

    I absolutely agree about the importance of a project post-mortem. And I’d like to add that I’ve seen such post-mortems used in several organizations as the very beginnings of an ongoing conversation about how PM, in general, might be improved. Here’s the typical scenario: 1. One or two people with some PM savvy become aware that there is a problem with the local PM practices.
    2. Senior management denies there is such a problem.
    3. The PM-savvy people who know there is a problem suggest that they conduct a couple of post-mortems, selecting projects that have had difficulty.
    4. The post-mortem flushes out a whole bunch of PM issues and challenges that need to be addressed.
    5. The organization is now on a path toward addressing these challenges.

    If you fancy yourself as a “change agent” advocating for PM, then I highly recommend the post-mortem as a gentle, yet powerful, tool that will allow the locals to identify their own PM problems and begin seeking (for themselves) ways to improve. It’s great! No external motivation needed!

    P.S. — One of the most popular pages at my website is this free tool “Project ‘Post Mortem’ Review Questions.” It contains 37 questions that can get you started constructing your own Post Mortem review. Here’s the URL:
    http://www.michaelgreer.com/postmortem.htm

  2. Avatar Jason says:

    Hi Gina. I’ve been in a few project Post Implementation Reviews (PIRs) myself and I know how it can quickly descend into the blame game. The survey idea is good in that it avoids conflict and bias.

    I came up with 5 tips to help anybody wanting to derive a successful PIR session
    http://blog.myprogo.com/progo-document-templates/5-tips-for-successful-project-post-mortems/

  3. Avatar Phil Simon says:

    Gina

    Good post. I couldn’t agree more with this:

    A project post-mortem is one of the most valuable methods available for analyzing weaknesses in a project lifecycle. It gives team members an outlet for their feedback, and provides new perspectives to the Project Manager, who is sometimes too close to the process to assess it objectively.

    What do you do, though, when senior management doesn’t want to hear the bad?

  1. September 20, 2009

    […] Planning a Project Post-Mortem – Part II […]

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