Closing: The Often-Overlooked Activity

A post project review (PPR) is a valuable tool PMs can use at the closing of a project and should be included in the project schedule plan. The goal of PPR is to find lessons learned on what went well and what could be done better. These results should be used as suggestions for future projects, so you and other PMs are learning as you go from project to project.

In the review, team members compare the planned results with the actual results. They can use this information to create the next steps and refine business strategy. Also, PPR can help PMs determine the most effective processes, find areas of improvement, and identify individual strengths and accomplishments. It should be required that the results of past PPRs be examined for actions that should be taken on new projects.

PPRs should be mandatory for all projects that have multiple members, a project duration of at least 60-90 days, and be treated as a positive event for both the participants and the organization.

Conduct a PPR for Cancelled Projects

The above is mostly about completed projects, but there should also be PPRs for cancelled projects. Why? Cancelled projects are often the most important to review because of sunken costs that have been lost. This helps to reduce or eliminate the occurrence of cancelled projects and negative traits such as budget overruns, missed milestones and low quality.

Planning for a PPR

Who facilitates the PPR workshop? It depends on the organization who may have dedicated departments or business units tasked with performing these reviews and/or use external facilitators (e.g., a PM from another project) to support the process. On the other hand, project team members might be able to conduct the review more efficiently and within a shorter time because they are familiar with the project. In this situation, the project’s PM is the facilitator.

Along with team members, you may select other members (i.e., team leaders and/or key stakeholders) that have strong knowledge of the processes that were used in the project. It’s recommended that managers should not participate in the PPR because it may inhibit the candidness of the group and the free flow of ideas. Managers should be receptive to having their decisions reviewed in retrospect.

The agenda should outline the purpose of the meeting, the topics to be discussed, and the expected outcomes. Topics should include gap analysis, whether project goals were achieved, satisfaction of stakeholders, costs, benefits, and identifying areas for improvement with action plans. The expected outcomes could be better communication among team members, increased accountability and critical thinking skills, and insight into customer satisfaction levels.

PPR Checklist: Steps and Tasks for Conducting an Effective Post Project Review

Here is a helpful checklist organized into steps and tasks to keep in your PM toolkit when you need to conduct a PPR.

1. Preparation:
   • Schedule PPR in project plan
   • Choose facilitator
   • Select participants
   • Create agenda
     
2. Review Criteria:
   • Compare planned vs. actual results
   • Assess goal achievement
   • Evaluate stakeholder satisfaction
   • Analyze costs and benefits
     
3. Discussion:
   • Identify successes and challenges
   • Determine effective processes
   • Recognize team accomplishments
   • Extract lessons learned
     
4. Outcomes:
   • List improvement areas
   • Develop action plans
   • Document key learnings
     
5. Follow-up:
   • Share insights for future projects
   • Implement recommended changes
     
6. Closure:
   • Thank participants
   • Distribute PPR results

Synopsis

Conducting PPRs is an effective way of capturing and transferring valuable lessons learned. PPRs involve evaluating the success and failure of projects, learning from mistakes, and sharing the knowledge to improve the success of new projects. Also, PPRs are a critical step in change management and help organizations learn from their experiences to improve future initiatives. Organizations that plan for regular PPRs are also organizations that are likely to have fewer problems during actual reviews and have higher user satisfaction that they are getting the best product possible. To finish, send out some thanks. There is a lot of power in the simple human gesture of offering thanks to your team, stakeholders and customers and it is surprising how often this is overlooked.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana, Spanish-born American philosopher, poet, humorist

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