Process > Post-Mortems

Learn how to turn project post-mortems from a public execution into a constructive, positive and valuable team-building exercise that benefits everyone involved.

Let's face it: Post-mortems are painful. But they can be effective when done right, and this article offers some relief for that headache.

Should project teams stop conducting post-mortems and wasting time by facilitating lessons-learned workshops? When this writer first heard these words, he thought it would’ve been considered blasphemy. Then he thought about it...

Are post-mortems a complete waste of time and nobody told me, or is something else going on here? Learn how to avoid the pointless post-mortem trap.

Ending the project is about more than just post-mortems and parties (don't worry, you can still have those, too!). Here we explore why we want to ensure that the project adds to the overall organizational knowledge--and how formal closure to all of the project elements must leave no confusion, gaps or misinterpretation.

Lessons-learned sessions and post-mortems are important--but they don’t always happen. Need an effective solution? Hold them repeatedly during the project.

Making the most out of one of the most difficult parts of a project can reap tremendous rewards.

The post-implemenation review wants to understand whether the project delivered the value promised in a way that was socially and economically acceptable--and that the value was worth the effort. This article will explore each of the review's questions in detail--and the approaches required to help create a better PIR process.

Recovery or no recovery, if organizations don’t choose the right projects and bring them to fruition, they’ll continue to suffer. And that selection process must include capturing ideas and leveraging the resources you already have. The author of a new book on strategic portfolio management summarizes 10 steps to revitalize PPM processes and improve performance.

To get the most out of your project post-mortem, you need the client’s perspective--whether you want it or not.

Establishing strategies with a sponsored project management office dedicated to overseeing their implementation within an organization can generate a stronger, more refined and professional business environment that is reliable and dependable--and thus more attractive to customers.

Everything this writer knows about managing resources he learned from Santa Claus. What can the big guy teach us about WFM? Warm up some cocoa, start the fire and turn on some carols as we learn some valuable holiday PM lessons.

Don't let your projects wind up DOA in the office morgue. Projects are more than just a cause of higher stomach acid levels. It can be a wonderful learning experience--if you take the time to learn from your mistakes with postmortem reviews.

From ambiguous reporting to overambitious estimating, here are 10 all-too-common missteps to avoid in the quest for a successful strategic project portfolio management process.

Project post-mortems tend to get short shrift in the fast-paced business world. Project managers and teams barely catch their breath before moving on to the next goal. But looking back can be invaluable. In studying myriad details of completed projects, the University of Virginia’s IT program is uncovering common causes of failure, and identifying ways to improve tomorrow’s projects.

With little extra money but plenty of extra time, smart IT managers are learning how to improve PPM functions without breaking the bank. Here are seven ways to get creative with PPM on the cheap.

Organizations and project leaders must support the gathering and reviewing of project lessons learned, or teams are doomed to repeat avoidable mistakes.

"I'm sorry; I came here for a post mortem."
"Oh! This is Abuse. You want room 12A next door."

Sometimes its easy to confuse the two. Here's how to avoid that confusion and make your project post mortems constructive instead of just critical.

Post-mortems are valuable, but the reality is that no two projects are alike. Keep that important fact in mind before applying lessons learned to that next project.

It’s obvious that the present bromides for implementing IT security are ineffectual. IT departments have introduced everything from two-phase authentication to e-discovery analytic tools. What is really called for is a transformation in how IT treats security. This must be the priority for 2009. The reasons are too numerous and they can’t be disputed.

It doesn't matter how quickly you can get out the next software release; if it doesn't work, it's going to fail. Here's a reminder of the importance of PM principles to successful software technologies.

As our voyage concludes, we use the Titanic to address your project lifecycle and what you can learn from root causes.

In Part 2 of the series, we look at how organizational behaviors in the form of systematic biases can influence project outcomes--and how these biases can be used to examine and describe the root causes of failed projects.

As our Titanic series continues, we continue to explore the importance of post-mortems. When projects fail catastrophically, a post-mortem is important to provide a better understanding of the reason behind the failure and prevent future failures. This requires that the IT organization has a post-mortem process in place so little time is wasted in enacting it.

How often do you apply lessons learned from past projects to new projects? If rarely, you're not alone, according to recent surveys. Here are some best practices and suggestions from the field that project managers can use to better capture lessons learned.

As the nation tries to rebuild, the future is only riddled with complexity. The volatility of society is accelerating, and will steamroll us if we do not model the changes that can happen from volatility and take action based on those models.

We tend to think of planning as a scheduling- and scope-driven activity. But as Microsoft's Sendak project proved, successful planning cannot occur without a solid business case.

There are new post-project reviews in town. Control gate reviews and post-project reviews are excellent methods to learn and evolve project management practices. The most important thing is to actually use these them--don't just make them steps in the process. There can be a tremendous amount of knowledge captured and shared with others through these reviews.

Take a look at recent news through the eyes of a seasoned project manager.

Case study ripped from the pages of Real Life 101: How Pacific Blue Cross's CIO used sound project management skills and the simple "traffic light report" to achieve business targets.