Project Closure – The final frontier!

I recently observed comments on project management not updating the project plans and performing administrative closure on a project that was part of a larger program. It prompted me to think how critical the processes related to closure when all scoped deliverable of a project is completed. There are many reasons for project closure even when the book of accounts itself needs to stay open such as being able to invoice against the other projects making up the larger program. However, the most notable are evaluating the project profitability, lessons learned, and customer satisfaction which are integral to the organizational project assets.

Listed below is some of my own experience in performing proper project closure and the project plan is just a gentle reminder that this is a responsibility of the project management.

1. Has the contracted scope of delivery been met? If not, why?
2. How efficiently were the project objectives delivered?
3. How effectively did the project stay on schedule? If not, what contributed to the delays and what processes need to be in check to avoid future schedule slips?
4. How well did the project management proactively forecast changes and adjust the estimation process?
5. How satisfied are customers and project stakeholders?
6. How did the actuals compare to the final baseline plan?
7. How did resource availability changes impact the delivery to adjust for capacity planning?
8. Did the team work together effectively?
9. What individual contributions positively or adversely impacted the project’s quality? How were performance expectations managed?
10. What attempts were made to strategically manage the customer?
11. Did any work start late and if so, why?
12. What improvements must be made on an individual, team, and process levels to positively impact future projects?

Thinking from an agile or lean perspective, the definition of ‘done’ includes the completion of the work planned. Including a task to be completed in the plan and leaving it incomplete shows the lack of agility. Even from a plan driven approach, the administrative closure on a project is a checklist guaranteeing completion of deliverable against contracted scope, documentation of performance results, recognition and performance evaluation of team members, updates to risk register, and release of resources from contingent actions. 

As the saying “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” goes, if the lack of time is the reason for not updating the project plan and performing the administrative closure, then not doing so is going to take more time when such essential knowledge is not disseminated. If processes are the bottleneck to performing this closure, then, these processes are at best questionable towards continuous improvement.

In the spirit of how Star Trek introduced Space as the final frontier, I view Project Closure as the final frontier to ensure knowledge capture to make course corrections in the existing projects for future projects to benefit immensely. Whether practicing agile or plan driven approaches, learning from projects is the origin of learning organizations. 

Thoughts?