Srinidhi Rao SGroup Manager| Robosoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd.Udupi, Karnataka, India
Hello All,
What is generally covered during project closure meeting? We have been trying to revamp PCR meetings in order to derive more value and metrics from it.
Currently, we discuss, effort, schedule, defect injection, defect distribution, risks and causal analysis. Also, inputs from quality, technical and PM teams on the overall project execution... To some extent we also discuss the lessons learned..
Anything else should we be covering? Any best practices.
Thanks and Best regards
Srinidhi.
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Hans RobbersSenior Director| SalesforceVlissingen, Netherlands
Srinidhi,
Interesting topic. You seem to cover a lot. Things I can contribute are:
- scope
How stable was the scope and how was change management applied. The result can be found in the margin or the budget of the project
- communication
How did it work and what can be done to improve?
- business case
Do we meet the business case and is it still valid?
Hopes this helps
Hans Saving Changes...
Andrew MakarProgram Manager| AMAKAR LLCOakland Township, Mi, United States
One question you might want to ask the organization is "Does anyone do anything with the lessons learned that are identified?"
If no one takes an action item to actually DO something with the project closure recommendations, what is the point in conducting lessons learned? If there isn't a hook at the start of a new project to review the past project lessons learned and identify 3 that apply to the new project, what is the point?
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Srinidhi, good post and replies. If I may quote from Deming, "Fix the process, fix the problem." For many organizations, the project closing process is regrettably limited to a discussion of project issues and maybe a high level documentation of lessons learned. In some organizations this approach is fine, but in most organizations this approach is inadequate and represents a missed opportunity for the effective closure of the project effort and the effective continuous improvement of the project organization. At a high level, a good project closing process accomplishes three things; it brings closure to the project effort, it classifies and archives the project artifacts for potential audit and re-use, and it produces a recommendation for continuous improvement (based upon lessons leanred). Note, IMHO Lessons Learned is NOT worthy of being called an output. There is minimal to no value in documenting lessons learned unless they are used as an input (proposal or recommendation) for improvement. Hence, after project closing, the next step in the PMM/PLC/SDLC is the final step - the continuous improvement process step. This is the step that presents in the appropriate manner and venue (per the process) the specific recommendations/proposals for continuous improvement along with the assessed and estimated metrics - such as cost, benefits, strateguc impact, etc. You are to be congratulated for your insights into improving your PCR meetings. I would offer that you might first have a look at your process/methodology. What is the goal of your project closing process? Do your activities and outputs meet that goal? After project closing, do you have a continuous improvement process step? If yes, what is the goal of that process step and do the activities and outputs meet the goal. If no, fix your PMM/PLC/SDLC. You are on the right track. Congrats again. Saving Changes...
Srinidhi Rao SGroup Manager| Robosoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd.Udupi, Karnataka, India
Thanks Hans, Mark and Andrew,
Got very informative inputs from you all..
There definitely is an attitude and effort towards bettering the overall Project Lessons database. Yes, it is a very good point to have a check point to utilize the Projects Lessons during project initiation...
But, thats one part of it. What role should the Project Sponsor or Business representative should play in PCR meetings? Though PM would have an idea of success/failure of the project, would Project Sponsor be in a better position to evaluate the project outputs from the business perspective? Should this be covered in PCR?
Best regards
Srinidhi. Saving Changes...
Hans RobbersSenior Director| SalesforceVlissingen, Netherlands
Srinidhi
Interesting additional question. AS pointed out in my previous reply to this post I do think the business case needs to be re-evaluated. The cost side, in project terms, is what the pm knows best, the effort to change/prepare the organisation is normally the part of the business change manager or the project sponsor. So the total cost is clear which can be re-evalauted in the PCR.
The benefits and ROI can only be monitored after a while and can not be a part of the PCR. However it is important to schedule a follow up meeting half a year later to determine if the business benefits are realised. There could than also be some additional costs for change management.
Interesting question although it assumes every project concludes with a project closure meeting. In my experience this happens rarely, as PMs are reassigned to new projects before the old one has fully completed.
I have produced project closure reports and provided them to the project steering committee or board. This is statistical and documents things such as major issues, changes requests, key lessons learnt etc.
Once the project has concluded and some time has passed a Post Implementation Review is done for key projects. This looks at the project management and whether the benefits are being delivered. It also obtains more lessons learnt from project team members and identifies key recurring themes in the interview process to feed back to the PMO and/or project manager. Saving Changes...
Interesting question although it assumes every project concludes with a project closure meeting. In my experience this happens rarely, as PMs are reassigned to new projects before the old one has fully completed.
I have produced project closure reports and provided them to the project steering committee or board. This is statistical and documents things such as major issues, changes requests, key lessons learnt etc.
Once the project has concluded and some time has passed a Post Implementation Review is done for key projects. This looks at the project management and whether the benefits are being delivered. It also obtains more lessons learnt from project team members and identifies key recurring themes in the interview process to feed back to the PMO and/or project manager. Saving Changes...
