Happy Endings

Janis is an award-winning journalist and editor who has covered many industries beyond project management, including health care, financial services, higher education and retail sales.

  Lessons Learned   ProjectsAtWork  

Whether your project was a walk in the park or a tumultuous journey, it deserves a good ending.

Writers learn by proofreading and editing their own work. They pore over their manuscripts, making corrections and looking for ways to improve. Eventually, the demands of the next assignment stop the process. A similar dynamic is at work in project management during the close-out phase. Project managers study hit and missed milestones, collect feedback on project methods and deliverables, and seek ways to do better. But the process is often preempted by the need to get to the next project.

Heavy workloads crush good intentions. "Something has to give, and close-out is at the top of the list," says Paula Martin, chief executive officer of Martin Training Associates in  Cincinnati, Ohio.

However, skipping the phase has repercussions. "Project managers don't place as much importance on close-out as they need to," says Susan Faucheux, program manager, EDS Operations Solutions in  Cerritos, Calif. "It's one of the most important phases of project work. The only way to improve is to review what you just did."

In the spirit of improvement, and better endings, here are tips on essential elements of close-out.

Collecting the Data

Start thinking about close-out at kickoff. "…

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