Use lessons learned to guide you toward success on your next project.
Once a project is complete or a big event has come and gone, it's tempting to simply give yourself a pat on the back if all went as planned and move on to the next project. However, a post-project review can have many benefits, such as allowing your organization to understand and maximize its strengths, address challenges, think of improvements and use past experience to make future projects excel. As managing partner Bart Perkins also points out in Computer World, "the more effort you invest in the post-project review, the more insights and improvements you will generate." It is up to you to decide how much time and energy to invest in your post-project review so that you can reap maximum benefits.
Instructions
1. Plan your post-project review ahead of time. Include it as an important milestone of your project management plan. Schedule your post-project review shortly after implementation to allow for immediate feedback, but allow enough time to gather data on the successes and weaknesses of the project. Typically, waiting a week or two for a small project is good; longer projects may wait a few months before being reviewed so that you can collect enough data to determine the project's success.
2. Define the scope of your post-project analysis. Determine which elements need to be reviewed and which activities will be conducted as part of your post-project review. Decide which documents, data and actions need to be examined, and whether review activities such as a gap analysis, surveys, data collection, interviews, meetings and research are needed.
3. Review key documents and conduct all activities needed to gather the data that will be part of your post-project report. Analyze all gathered information and create a final post-project report. Include elements such as methodology, key findings, recommendations and conclusions. Ask for colleagues to review your report before making it final, to ensure all points of view have been considered.
4. Share the key findings and main recommendations from your post-project review and determine a plan of action for implementation of chosen recommendations.
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