Should Have... Would Have... Could Have...- Lessons from the Project Post-Mortem Review
Lessons from the Project Post-Mortem Review
You might be asking yourself, "What have I stumbled upon? I came here to read about Instructional Design, not a murder mystery!"
A Project Post-Mortem Review is not as scary as it first sounds. Sometimes referred to as a Post-Project Review, it is simply reflecting on a project, individually and as a group, once a project is complete. In the book, The Project Management Minimalist: Just Enough PM to Rock Your Projects!, Michael Greer recommends a two-step process for reviewing a project post-mortem.
Two-Step Process for Reviewing a Project Post-Mortem
1. Prepare a specific list of questions for your Project Management team to reflect upon and answer. The team should be given ample time to self-reflect and prepare their responses.
2. Gather the Project Management team together to discuss the responses and lessons learned during the project.
What Type of Questions Should be Included in the Post-Mortem Review?
The post-mortem review questions should include general questions and phase-specific questions. General Questions address the overall process of the project while Phase-Specific Questions focus on each phase of the project.
Phases in the project include- Needs, Project Plan, Specifications for Deliverables, Creating Deliverables, and Testing & Implementing Deliverables.
Should Have, Would Have, Could Have...
Not all projects are successful, BUT lessons can be learned so the next project is successful. One such project I was a part of was a project to plan and execute a Father-Daughter dance at a local school. The project team was comprised of parent volunteers and the school music teacher.
The project began with an email to all the parents in the music boosters group asking if the Father Daughter Dance was still planned for the Spring. The music teacher and several parents replied back that there would be no dance due to scheduling and the dance would need to be planned and held within two weeks.
Later in the day, the mother who authored the original email emailed the group back with a list of duties, items needed for the dance, and requests for parents to volunteer for the planning committee. I replied back stating I could join the planning committee and assist, although I have never planned or held a dance. Unfortunately, I and one other parent replied to the email and the planning committee that had 10-15 members in past years was now a 3 member team.
The Father-Daughter Dance had its lowest turnout on record. There were a few door prizes and games. The DJ ended up being a Spotify playlist due to last-minute planning. The feedback from attendees was positive but all commented on how the event was much smaller than years past.
Let's Conduct a Post-Mortem Review
In general, the snacks, DJ, door prizes, decorations, and games (deliverables) were not of the highest quality or abundance. The time crunch and lack of planning caused much frustration for the team. In retrospect, I wish I would have had the boldness to back out when I realized the event planning fell on the shoulders of 3 parents and a frazzled music teacher.
Reflecting on the phase-specific aspects of the event, project deliverables were identified but again, the lack of planning made many items impossible to order and arrive on time. The scope of the project was too large for such a small team. In previous years, the punch list items for the project would have been covered by 10 parent volunteers.
The Post-Mortem Review of the Father-Daughter dance project did glean some positive results for next year's planned event. By meeting and going over the events of the planning, execution of the dance, and clean-up, we were able to prepare realistic expectations for next year's dance.
For more information and a copy of the Post-Mortem Review phases and questions in the blog, please visit The Project Management Minimalist: Just Enough PM to Rock Your Projects! [2nd Edition] at https://archive.org/details/pm-minimalist-2nd-edition-1-17-2011/mode/2up.
I am glad those that were there still had some fun and made the best of it. Has the reason for the lower turn-out of both volunteers and students been assessed? Is it still an area of interest for enough students or are there other social events that they would prefer instead?
ReplyDeleteIs there a date on the calendar for next year's dance? The last minute planning seemed to contribute to many of the delivery issues. It may have also contributed to the lower turn-out of both parent volunteers and student attendees. High school families are so busy these days. Advance planning could really open up more options including more volunteers, more participants, and better quality deliverables.
This was a great read! Thanks for sharing about the project post-mortem process and using an example that was relatable and paints the picture so clearly.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can see how scope creep worked its way into that situation (and can totally relate to the situation because I've been sucked into volunteering for similar ones more times than I'd like to remember!). So much to do and so little time/willing bodies to make it happen.
Fortunately, it sounds like the kids were still able to enjoy the event. And since every project presents a new opportunity for project managers and team members to learn and grow, you found some positive learning outcomes from the experience too (Terzieva & Morabito, 2016). What types of changes did you and team for next year's planning of the event to make the process smoother and engage more students?
Penny Jordan
Reference:
Terzieva, M., & Morabito, V. (2016). Learning from experience: The project team is key. Business Systems Research, 7(1), 1-15. DOI: 10.1515/bsrj-2016-0001.
Explaining the post-mortem process and then including your personal experience in the same format as example was a great idea for this post.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your experience I understand why you wanted to back down but I do not understand why the author of the original email would email back despite an email expressing that there would be no dance.
Time and resources were definitely the down fall of this project but as you stated this was a learning lesson for next years dance.
Post-mortem learning is unique to one's own experience. Still with all the hiccups, the dance was successful, though the attendance was low. The success here, comes from, not the number of attendees, but from the quality of the event. Therefore, going forward, properly planning will yield a better result in turn-out
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