Chapter 10
Finishing Well:
Project Closure
and Learning
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2010 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Chapter Learning Objectives
When you have mastered the material in this chapter,
you should be able to:
• Explain the importance of project closure for the
customer, the organization, and the project team.
• Recognize the value of planning for project
closure at the outset of the project.
• Develop and execute a comprehensive closure
plan.
• Lead a team in learning throughout a project.
• Apply effective strategies to promote project
learning across the organization.
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Finishing Well: Project Closure and
Learning
“It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”
Yogi Berra
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Box 10.1
A Tale of Two Projects
Project One: ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
James was pleased as he read an e-mail the plant manager had sent to him,
praising the recently completed lean manufacturing project and James’s work
as project manager.
“Your attention to customer satisfaction has been exemplary and did not wane
in the closing days of the project, as so often happens,” the manager’s e-mail
noted. “I appreciated that you and your team met with me and our supervisors
to identify remaining issues near the end of the project, and I was impressed by
the speed with which you addressed them. Moreover, at the handover meeting,
you provided us with all the documentation we needed to support the new 5-S*
system implemented in our area. I am also pleased that the assembly and test
team members who represented us on the project learned a great deal from
their involvement and are now serving as excellent in house resources for us as
we continue to implement other aspects of lean production.”
continued
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Box 10.1
A Tale of Two Projects
Project One: ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
James was glad the lessons-learned document he and
his team put together would be the subject of discussion
at the next project managers’ roundtable, the monthly
meeting of those in the company who routinely lead
project teams. The group had been a big help to James
several months ago when this project started, and he
was glad to have the chance to contribute something
this time.
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Box 10.1
A Tale of Two Projects
Project Two: TROUBLE IN HOSPITAL CITY
A passing comment in the cafeteria line brought Sally up short. “You aren’t still
working on the ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) improvement project,
are you?”
With a weak smile, Sally responded, “Almost done.” In reality, the project had
lingered in an “almost done” state for six months! Sally reflected on what had
led to this situation. First, there hadn’t been a clear picture of what signified the
“end” of the project. Though the general focus of the project was clear—identify
steps the hospital could take to reduce rates of VAP—Sally had believed the
project would end when the team submitted its recommendations to the toplevel managers who sponsored the project. However, some key stakeholders
believed the project would not be complete until top-level managers approved
the recommended changes. And some hospital senior executives expected
Sally’s team to implement the changes as well.
continued
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Box 10.1
A Tale of Two Projects
Project Two: TROUBLE IN HOSPITAL CITY
After the project sponsors finally approved a small set of recommendations,
Sally was disheartened when she and her team learned that their next step
would be to develop an education plan to inform staff of new VAP policies and
procedures. By this time, several members had left the team, either officially or
unofficially. Team size had diminished to the point where the skeletal group that
remained was too small and lacked the breadth of skill to do all that was now
required. Sally also learned late in the project that she was expected to submit
a project file that included documents her team had either never created, or had
created but not saved (e.g., several of the early project presentations).
Sally wondered what she and her team could or should have done differently
and when, if ever, the project would mercifully come to a close.
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Project Closure
• All those activities that, once complete, permit
the project manager and team to say, ‘We’re
done!”
• Efforts invested in planning and preparing to
close out the project and hand over deliverable
to the final users (whether internal or external)
directly affect project success.
• Effective project closure yields benefits to the
customer, the enterprise undertaking the
project, and the project team.
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Benefits of Well Planned and Executed
Project Closure
•
•
•
For the customer:
• Last chance to offer input and identify loose ends
before formally accepting the project as complete
• Has the potential to enhance customer satisfaction
and confidence in the project’s deliverables
For an enterprise undertaking the project:
• If undertaken as part of a contractual agreement
with an outside customer, final payment will be
contingent on project closure
• Offers an opportunity for organizational learning
and improvement
For the team:
• Can ensure team members’ orderly and timely exit
from the project
• Can contribute to team members’ sense of
accomplishment
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Ongoing Closure Activities
During the Project
• Project Review Meetings
• Ongoing Project
Documentation
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Box 10.2
Perils of Hindsight Bias
A few months after the completion of a process-improvement project, the
project manager was asked to reflect on what made it a success. Final
assembly time for the volumetric infusion pump line had been cut in half, which
had been the target.
As he thought back, it seemed to him the reason it went well was because he
didn’t have many team meetings and just asked people to work it out
themselves. From his perspective, this meant that having infrequent team
meetings was a best practice he would apply in the future. He had always
thought meetings were a waste of time, and this proved it.
What he did not realize, or perhaps forgot, was that the highly experienced
members of this team were able to handle the problem very effectively without
his help once they knew the goal. It was not that they didn’t have meetings;
they just met on an as-needed basis without him.
Perhaps best practices he should have taken away from the experience
included the importance of having team members with the specific skills needed
for the project, and the value of setting clear, specific goals.
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Exhibit 10.1
Dimensions of Project Closure
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Exhibit 10.2
Options for Team and Team Member
Recognition and Rewards
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Exhibit 10.3
Typical Contents of a Project File
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Exhibit 10.4
Inside the Learning Curve
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Deliberate Learning during the
Project
• Make learning a project goal embedded
in the organization’s project
management approach
• Start with learning
• Make learning visible
• Set a positive, open tone
• Maintain up-to-date and accurate
records
• Involve the team
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Methods for Continuous
Learning during the Project
• Traffic Light Process
• After-Action Reviews
• Formal End-of-Phase Review and
Improvement Sessions
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Traffic Light Process
•
The project manager or a facilitator asks each team
member to work silently to record one idea about what
is happening in the project that should continue.
•
Each idea should be recorded on a sticky note.
•
The facilitator places each note on the board, closely
locating items that appear to be related.
•
The group then follows the same process in identifying
things happening in the project that should stop, and
what actions they believe should start.
•
The team next reviews the clusters of related ideas in
each category (i.e., continue, stop and start) and
discusses what they can do to ensure these lessons
become part of the project as it moves forward.
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US Army’s After Action Review Process
• At the conclusion of each significant phase of an action, the
leader and his or her direct reports meet in an AAR session.
• They begin by collectively reviewing the ground rules
(participate; no thin skins; leave your stripes at the door; take
notes; focus on our issues, not the issues of those above us).
• Leader or facilitator summarizes the mission, intent, expected
end state, actual end state, and any “events and metrics relevant
to the objective.”
• The meeting then focuses on four key questions:
1. What were the intended results?
2. What were the actual results?
3. If there was a difference, what caused it?
4. What will we sustain or improve?
• At the close of the AAR the leader identified two or three lessons
learned of greatest relevance to the next phase.
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Exhibit 10.6
Sample Plan for an End-of-Phase Team-Based
Review and Learning Session
continued
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Exhibit 10.6
Sample Plan for an End-of-Phase Team-Based
Review and Learning Session
continued
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Exhibit 10.6
Sample Plan for an End-of-Phase Team-Based
Review and Learning Session
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Exhibit 10.6
Sample Plan for an
End-of-Phase TeamBased Review and
Learning Session
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Exhibit10.7
Project Team Engaged in an Exercise to
Recreate a Project Event Timeline
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Key Questions for a Project
Retrospective
• What worked well that we do not want to
forget?
• What is important to remember, but is at risk to
be forgotten if we do not capture it?
• What did we learn?
• What should we do differently next time?
• What still puzzles us? (What do we still
not know how to do well?)
• What recommendations would we make
to upper-level managers and future teams
based on the above?
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Exhibit 10.8
Sample Retrospective Report
Contents
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Facilitating Learning from Project to
Project
• Focus on Process and Procedural Lessons
Learned
• Maintain and Encourage the Use of an
Organizational Database of Project Lessons
Learned
• Strengthen Social Networking among Project
Managers
• Promote Project-to-Project Learning through
Team Member Selection
• Provide Resources for Just-in-Time Learning
• Create a Project Improvement Advocate Role
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Chapter Summary
• Project closure is an important, though often
undermanaged and underleveraged, phase in the
life of a project.
• This is the project team’s last opportunity to
influence, in a positive way, stakeholder satisfaction.
• When project closure is not properly handled, costs
can escalate, team morale may suffer, stakeholders
may be dissatisfied, payment for work can be
delayed, future business may be at risk, the
opportunity for learning is forgone, and mistakes
made may be repeated.
• Importantly, poor project closure can tarnish the
project manager’s reputation: last impressions
matter.
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