Why you should put these walking dead projects out of their misery!
Many companies have these long, dead projects that have not been closed properly. Much like the zombies in movies and shows, you could let them lumber around and hope for the best, or you could just put them out of their misery.
The reasons for properly closing a project are:
- Ensuring that learnings are captured so that mistakes are not repeated, and positive learnings can be replicated
- Improving project turnaround; the more detailed the feedback is at the end of each project, the quicker and better the next project will be
- Ensuring proper handover from the project team to the owners in the business
- Allowing for a critical review of the project management and project governance processes
What does it actually mean to close a project?
Project closure is more than just saying goodbye to the project and the team members. It is also not just something that happens once the project is complete. There need to be mini closures at the end of each phase. For more about the different project phases used in the phase gate methodology, check out my website: https://sbsolutions.biz/. I will also soon be launching a course to explain the requirements of each phase in detail.
Mini Closures, also known as Gates
These mini closures occur during the gates between each phase. These gates are important to ensure that the project is still aligned to organisational strategy. For instance, if the project is about launching a new product, but customers no longer want the product, then the project should either be changed or shelved. The gates also ensure that all required steps in that phase have been fully completed. For instance, the gate at the end of the project planning phase ensures that the project plan is detailed enough and that timelines are realistic.
What to do to close a project
The first step is to review all the deliverables, to ensure that these have been met. These could be a completed snag list at the end of a building project, reaching the target for a specific KPI, or the signed-off project budget.
If the required deliverables have not been met, or only partially met, then the reason must be clearly articulated. This is part of change management, which is integral to project governance. All changes must go through the pre-defined change management process and be signed off by the affected stakeholders.
The second step is to review all the documentation and project management processes, which include:
- Risk management – including what mitigations worked, and which did not
- Actual spend and realized cash flow – any variances to the budget must be documented, and the reasons given
- Contracts – all procurement contracts must be reviewed and closed, to ensure vendors have met the requirements, and that they have been paid accordingly
- Project plan – were tasks completed on time, and if not, why not
- Benefits – any benefits not realized need to be noted (and the reason why must be understood) and any additional benefits must be highlighted
Once the above documents have been reviewed, the lessons learnt from each can be captured. This would include what was done well, in other words, what should be done again for the next project; what was done poorly, i.e. what should be changed for the next project and, finally, what can be done better during the next project.
Once the documentation has been compiled, it can be signed off by the stakeholders. Then the documents can be archived.
The project can now be formally closed, and celebrated – this could be done by having a closing ceremony or party. This is also the ideal opportunity to recognise the contribution of each of the project resources, and can also function as the official release of resources from this project.