“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” ~Winston Churchill, 1948 In the military we called it an “After Action Review” or AAR. “After Action Reviews, an important discipline employed by military planners, helps them learn from the good, the bad, and the ugly. After a major engagement, soldiers and officers meet to make a rigorous assessment of the battle just fought—what went wrong and right—and especially what can be learned to improve performance in similar situations in the future. It’s the military’s way of linking strategy and action. (Pinegar, 2009)” AAR’s provided my first experience with the power of reflection to improve a project or process. Project managers refer to this reflection process as a project “post-mortem”. “It's important for project managers and team members to take stock at the end of a project and develop a list of lessons learned so that they don't repeat their mistakes in the next project. (Greer, 2010, p. 43)” The benefits of both AAR’s and post-mortems are the same as they provide a feedback in order to improve future projects.
A few years ago I was involved in a large scale project ($3,000,000 over 3 years) that involved developing a software package to be used by several state, tribal and federal entities. The goal was to create a tracking software for adult salmon to be used in the field. This project involved creating a software user interface for entering data, a centralized backend database and a way to upload the data to the centralized database. It also included reporting capabilities and a training package. This project eventually produced a software package but it was scrapped because the user interface and data collected did not meet the needs of the different agencies. Some agencies flat out refused to use the software and used other methods to collect their data. After two years the software package was scrapped. So where did this project go wrong and if it were attempted today how could the project dynamics be changed to facilitate a more positive outcome? There were many points of failure within this project. One of the first issues occurred during the initial phase of the project. The project manager failed to gather all requirements from the primary stakeholders. “Before planning projects, project managers need to clearly define several aspects of projects, including project needs, strategy, and objectives. Limitations and needs act as boundaries for projects, while unknowns need to be anticipated, evaluated, and planned for. Portny et al., 2008. p. 30)” The false assumption was made that all agencies gathered the same data in the same manner. Although it would have been a huge task, gathering information from all the agency stakeholders pertaining to their processes, objectives and desired outcomes could have clearly defined the project concept. This process would have also created engagement for the project key stakeholders. Selecting the project team is an important part of the success of a project. “Getting the right people on board the project team and aligning the right project stakeholders provide critical resources and support during the course of the project. (Portny et al., 2008, p. 108)” In this case, the project team was isolated and made up of members from the project manager’s agency. Subject matter experts (SME’s) also came from the project manager’s agency. The identified project programmers were fishery staff that wanted to be programmers and had no formal training. A case could be made that the project manager did not spend enough time evaluating the qualifications of the project team members and missed an opportunity to build support for the project by not selecting more qualified personal from other agencies. Communication is a critical requirement of project management. “If you don’t involve all stakeholders in an active and engaged fashion from the beginning, you are likely to suffer the consequences of rework when they finally figure out what you and your project team are up to…. and they then take action to leave their mark on it! (Greer, 2010, p. 11)” During the building of the software package there was little communication with stakeholders or opportunities to view the progress of the project. Had the project manager given status updates on a regular basis the issues with the software may have been caught early in the process. Regular project team meetings may have uncovered the inadequacies of the programming staff. According to Portny et al., most issues with drivers and supporters can be avoided by ensuring that the following steps are taken:
A project post-mortem was conducted on this project and in hind sight the root of the problems in the project were apparent. Recognizing the power of communication and how it can affect a project is a powerful lesson. Since that experience I have endeavored to build communication into my projects. Weekly project team meetings, stakeholder meetings and status meetings are all tools that will prevent major failures and build support for any project. The use of post-mortems will continue to be a critical part of my project management as there is always room for improvement in any project. Do you use post-mortems in your project management? Do you believe it is an important tool to improve project management? Let me know what you think! References Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc. Pinegar, B. (2009) Post-Mortem vs. After action review |. Available at: http://brettpinegar.com/post-mortem-vs-after-action-review/. Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Project Management Institute (2000) A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide). 3rd edn. United States: Project Management Institute. PublicDomainPictures.net (no date) Double tree reflection free stock photo. Available at: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=146242&picture=reflecie-double-tree/. Westminster College (no date) Winston Churchill museum in Fulton, MO. Available at: https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/
2 Comments
Shonda
9/11/2016 08:46:29 pm
Stacy,
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9/11/2016 09:36:37 pm
Great Story, I appreciate your transparency. Postmortems is critical for any project to ensure that you have learned from the experience to ensure that it does not happen again. Communication and identifying key stakeholders who have the authority to make decisions is paramount and undoubtedly one of the greatest reasons for project failing. With the amount of literature that documents why this approach is the best practice. Why do you think leaders and project managers alike continue to make this mistake. I can personally from my own experience in that leadership want things fast not necessarily done right the first time.
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Stacy SpringerWelcome to my blog! I am passionate about great Instructional Design and Educational Technology. Let's start a discussion! Archives
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