How useful are your project closing activities?

When I think back to most of the projects I led during my career, project closing was often neglected. Once our work on the project was complete, and outcomes were achieved, delivered or presented, we immediately moved on to other projects and opportunities. Beyond a mention in the annual report or on a performance evaluation, the project was quickly forgotten. Our deliverables may have lived on, but the project itself was rarely considered again.

That's why one of my favorite best practices from project management is the project retrospective. Project retrospectives involve considering what went well during the project (and what didn’t!) to determine lessons learned. These key takeaways are documented and shared so that future projects are better informed and managed.

While there are a variety of approaches to conducting these retrospectives, I often recommend that project teams and key stakeholders at least consider the following questions:

• What did we set out to accomplish?

• What did we actually accomplish?

• What went really well?

• What would we do differently next time?

• What 2 or 3 things have we learned from this project that we can apply to other projects or initiatives?

While they consider the past, project retrospectives are actually very forward-thinking, nudging us toward how we can improve future projects and collaborations.

Want to facilitate a project retrospective? Download a copy of our Project Retrospective Worksheet.