Identifying, launching and managing projects is fundamental to the success of every technology leader. However, closing projects is an area that is often underestimated and poorly executed.
For most technology leaders, projects are the centerpiece of how we demonstrate and execute our value. Projects often represent the realization of our technology strategy or perhaps serve as enablers for a broader business or transformational strategy. These projects also provide the opportunity to interact and implement exciting new technologies or external expertise in the form of consultants, advisors and technical experts.
Effective project management is a challenge for most technology organizations, but few do an adequate job of wrapping up their projects well . In many organizations, projects end up like a night out at a nightclub, where the music stops, the house lights come on, and participants head straight for the exit without a second glance.
This phenomenon is especially acute in projects that have been unsuccessful or challenging. Key individuals flee the project as if mere association with it could harm their reputation or career prospects.
Reaching the end of a project should be approached with the same diligence as starting it. Closing a project not only effectively allows for an orderly transition to the next activity, but it also captures hard-won lessons and makes the organization more effective in the long term.
We often forget that projects produce two significant results. The first is obvious and this is the declared objective of the project. The second, more subtle outcome is the skills, learning and development that occur during the project. In cases where the project does not meet its stated objective, there is still significant value to be achieved in this area for the teams that are willing to capture it.
Building Your Project Closure Checklist
Every organization that has undertaken more than a few complex projects probably has a preferred methodology and toolkit for executing its projects. There are probably dozens of tasks related to starting a new project, from developing bylaws to holding kickoff meetings. However, the list of project closure activities is comparatively scant, if any at all.
Although it may seem counterintuitive, the best time to start considering how to end a specific project effectively is right at the beginning. Turn one of your initial activities into a session to plan how you will complete the project. Ask your team questions like the following:
What do we hope to learn from this project and how can we share it with the wider organization?
- How will we recognize the performance of individuals on the project and ensure that information is captured and shared with your leadership?
- How will we evaluate the implementation methodology used in the project and share what we learned?
- Who will be responsible for transferring knowledge from consulting or technology partners?
- Questions like these should generate ongoing discussions and ultimately result in an element of your plan dedicated to effectively closing the project.
Learning from Projects
Perhaps the most significant benefit of ending a project effectively is capturing what your teams learned during the project. Most projects have some elements that are outside “business as usual”, whether they are new technologies, methodologies or external suppliers. Interacting with these elements may have produced extraordinary returns or created new capability within your teams.
The challenge is that much of this knowledge exists in the brains of those who used the new techniques during the project, rather than across the entire organization. There will undoubtedly be some future knowledge sharing as these individuals interact with colleagues on other projects, but taking the time to plan how to share that knowledge more explicitly will pay dividends in the long run .
Consider rotating new team members as the project ends. This will provide some “fresh hands” to help with project closeout activities and allow experienced employees to share what they have learned while still applying these new techniques. This turns your nearly completed project into a teaching tool, allowing you to immediately share new skills in an accelerated manner.
Plan some time to formally analyze what went well and what could be improved. Most militaries conduct an after-action report to determine what can be obtained from an effort regardless of its success or failure . Apply a similar practice to your projects to improve the organization in the future, rather than assigning praise or blame.
Finding Success in Failure
Perhaps the most challenging projects to finish well are those that fail to meet their stated objective. No one likes to be involved in a failed effort, and the tendency is to quickly and quietly shut down a failed project and never speak of it again.
This tendency to shy away from failure creates a double loss for the organization by failing to capture valuable learnings from the project. Even if the program's stated objective was not achieved, your organization likely learned new tools and techniques, or perhaps even some valuable and expensive lessons about the viability of a particular technology or vendor relationship.
It may be helpful to bring in people from outside the project team or even outside the organization to review the project. Try to find “teachable moments” that can be applied to future projects, rather than trying to allocate blame or redo past decisions that cannot be reversed or remade. This effort will not only produce valuable information that will benefit future projects, but it will also allow the project team and the organization at large to recognize that the project did not go as planned and formally end the effort rather than letting it sit in the lurch.
Regardless of whether or not your project was successful in meeting its objectives, it likely provided a rich environment for learning, experimenting, and experimenting with new tools and techniques. Your team, partners, and processes have likely been tested in unfamiliar ways, and likely resulted in new approaches and tools.
Finishing a project the right way allows future efforts to build on that experience and makes your organization more effective and capable. Learning how to finish projects well will pay dividends far beyond what is on the results list.
