Don't Leave Yet!

Project Close-out is the final phase of the project management process. The close-out of a project is just as important as the other phases in project management, but all too often Project Managers and sponsors don't forecast enough time and effort to thoroughly complete this final phase.

Project Close-out is important because project documents are gathered and archived to ensure the intellectual property of projects are available to other Project Managers and senior management. Without closing a project properly, team members risk making the same mistakes over and over again, and organizations fail to learn from their mistakes and inefficiencies. Closing-out a project properly and implementing "lessons learned" is a more cost-effective way of doing business than repeating the same mistakes over and over again and expecting different results.

The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines project close-out and evaluation as "formalizing acceptance of the project or phase and bringing it to an orderly end." There are four essential components to a complete project close-out. These include:

1. Project handover - transitioning from project status to operational status and ensuring the business/users can accept, operate, and support the product as delivered.

2. Project evaluation - identifying gaps in the original project scope that have not been delivered, new requirements that may have arisen as a result of the project, and comparing actual to plan of budget, timeline, quality, resource utilization, risk management, and other standards identified in the project planning phase.

3. Performance evaluation - identifying and comparing key stakeholder performance standards relative to communication, project control, project reporting, conflict management and resolution, cross-functional cooperation and accountability, roles and responsibilities, and completion and success criteria.

4. Recognition - formally recognizing and celebrating the performance of the project team and key stakeholders.

A project close-out report is written by the Project Manager and distributed to key stakeholders. Project review meetings are held with stakeholders to review the main aspects of the close-out report and lessons learned. Subsequent meetings and councils may be organized in order to implement valuable changes as a result of lessons learned.

Other Project Close-out Topics to Consider

There are many topics that a Project Manager may need to consider when writing his or her project close-out report and conducting project review meetings. These can include the following:

1. End Product Specifications
   • Did the end product meet stakeholder expectations?
   • Did product requirements change during the project?
   • What did you learn about developing end product specifications?
   • What would you do differently for the next project?

2. Schedules
   • Did the project finish as planned?
   • Why was the team able to stay on schedule?
   • What factors caused delays?
   • What did you learn about scheduling from this project?
   • What would you do differently for the next project?

3. Costs
   • Were costs and budget contained?

4. Team Issues
   • Did you use the staff allocated?
   • Did you have the right skills sets available?
   • What worked well relative to team communication?
   • What didn't work well relative to team communication?
   • What did you learn about working in a project team as opposed to other teams?
   • What will you do differently as a team member on the next project?
   • Did the Operating agreement serve as a useful and binding tool?
   • Overall, how well did the team perform? Where, when, and why were there bottlenecks?
   • How well did individuals manage functional priorities and outside commitments?

5. Relationships
   • Were the expectations of project stakeholders met?
   • What did you learn about working with project stakeholders?
   • What will you do differently relative to project stakeholders?
   • Was the communication targeted to the right people, at the right time, about the right information?

Getting Comfortable with Project Close-out

Another reason Project Managers often avoid a formal close-out process is because they are uncomfortable with the prospect of evaluating peers and senior level management. One of the best ways to overcome this apprehension is to establish an organized approach to closing-out your projects, stick with your process, evaluate it periodically, and remember the following words of wisdom.

Project Management Aphorisms

• Information is the primary source of nourishment; it is vital to survival. When information is not available, people make it up.
• Be impeccable with your word.
• Ask for what you need, when you need it, and how and when you want people to respond.
• Trust that circulating information is more productive than protecting it.
• Never let things that matter most be sacrificed by the things which matter least.