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Aim
The project management process does not stop after the implementation is complete. The closing and reviewing phase is essential for ensuring that the project has been a success, and for drawing out any lessons learned, so that these can be applied to improve future projects. This exercise will help a project manager to review how successfully they close down their projects, and to identify areas for improvement.
Allow 35 minutes for completion and discussion.
Learning Objectives
Participants will be able to …
- review the process for closing down projects
- formulate a plan for improving the process
Facilitator Guidance
This exercise should be facilitated with a project manager who has already undergone at least one project. It should be completed individually before facilitating a group discussion on the results.
Suggested Resources
- copy of task sheet per participant
- pens
What to Do (15 Minutes)
- Briefly introduce the exercise and explain its purpose.
- Get the project managers to work through the questionnaire individually, answering ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to each of the questions. Encourage them to answer honestly, considering the full implications of their responses.
Review Activity (10 Minutes)
- Bring the group back together, and discuss the results of the questionnaire.
Apply Learning (10 Minutes)
- Now participants should review the questionnaire and consider what measures they could take to improve their planning skills in the areas in which they have answered ‘no’. They should note these down in the ‘Action’ column.
- Facilitate a concluding discussion. Encourage participants to go through their ‘Action’ column and use the results to formulate a personal action plan. This can be used to implement the changes that they have identified when working on future projects.
Closing and Reviewing Projects – Task Sheet
The project management process does not stop after the implementation is complete. The closing and reviewing phase is essential for ensuring that the project has been a success, and for drawing out any lessons learned, so that these can be applied to improve future projects. This exercise will help you to review how successfully you close down your projects, and to identify areas for improvement.
Task
- Answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to each of the questions. Answer honestly, considering the full implications of your responses. You have 10 minutes to do this before group discussion of the results.
- After you have answered all of the questions, review the questionnaire again, this time considering what measures you could take to improve your planning skills in the areas where you have answered ‘no’. Note these down in the ‘Action’ column. You have a further five minutes to complete this.
- Keep this questionnaire and use it as an action plan to implement the changes that you have identified.
Question
Yes
No
Action
Have relevant documents and correspondence from the project been properly logged and stored?
Have remaining project resources been reallocated?
Have you established a point of contact for future inquiries about the project?
Have you devised a plan to disengage relationships between team members?
Have you recognized and rewarded the efforts of your team?
Have you made the way forward clear to everyone?
Have remaining project responsibilities been assigned?
Have the successes of the project been properly communicated to all stakeholders/other teams or departments?
Have you compared the actual outputs to the deliverables and objectives that were agreed at the outset?
If the actual outputs did not meet the original objectives/deliverables, have you examined why and the impact it had?
Further, is there any additional work that needs to be done to fully complete the project?
If the objectives/ deliverables were revised at any point during the project, have you reviewed why this happened and the impact it had?
Have you measured the project team’s satisfaction with the results?
Have you measured internal and external customers’ satisfaction with the project?
Did the project meet, or even exceed, the customers’ needs?
Was the project completed within the original budget?
Have the planned timescales been met?
Have you analyzed the project for mistakes and any lessons to be learned from them?
Is there a system for ensuring that mistakes are learned from, and learning points are applied to, future projects?
