Post-mortem of a Project Failure

Sometimes, we implement the best project management strategies to accomplish a project but end up failing. When a project is finished as planned, without exceeding the budget or crossing the deadline, the credit goes to the entire team that worked on it. But, when it fails, the blame is on the project manager. But what exactly causes project failure? Well, there are many reasons.

It can be poor quality work, lack of resources, or lack of communication at different stages of project management. So, what exactly should you do when a project doesn’t meet the quality standards or takes too many resources than what was planned? You conduct a project post-mortem, which involves identifying where you went wrong, what could have been done better, and whether the cost was sufficient.

What is Project Post-Mortem?

The projects do not always go as well as planned. Even when you have finished the project successfully, you face too many challenges during execution. That’s why a project post-mortem is conducted. It’s a formal meeting where everyone who participated in the project, including the stakeholders, shares their views on how the project turned out and where it failed. This is also done to avoid putting the blame on a single person for a project failure. It consists of the lessons learned during the course of the project so that the same mistakes are not repeated in the future.

Why does a Project Fail?

There are a few noteworthy reasons for a project to fail. Let us discuss them.

Project isn’t required anymore

You start working on a project when there’s a requirement. At times, your customers may no longer be interested in the same project due to their small budget, changes in their plans, or other reasons. That isn’t anyone’s fault. The question is, what do you do next? If the customer asks you to stop when you are halfway through the project, you document the lessons learned. Since there’s nothing that can be done to initiate the customers’ requirements, the best you can do is ensure that future projects are conducted more efficiently.

Insufficient funds

You might have a good budget when starting a project, but there’s no guarantee you will have the same budget when executing it. There can be many reasons for insufficient funds. Perhaps, the sponsors are no longer willing to invest in your project, or you need more money than you had planned. To avoid this, you must conduct a cost analysis when planning a budget for the project. This will help you estimate the total expense you will incur by the end of the project. Based on this, you can select your funding sources.

Fail to understand the client’s requirements

Never hesitate to ask your clients or stakeholders multiple questions when discussing project requirements. Clarifying everything at the beginning will give you a better understanding of what’s expected from you. You can communicate these requirements to the team, and they will work accordingly.

One of the reasons project managers are blamed for a project failure is the lack of proper understanding of the client’s requirements. They don’t ask questions and get no clarification regarding how to execute a job. The employees work following the manager’s instructions. And when those are vague, there is nothing the employees can do to ensure the best quality. There have been many instances when managers executed a project on their assumptions. Remember, asking basic questions about the project won’t bother your client or upper-level management.

How to Run a Project’s Post-Mortem?

As a project manager, you can run quite an effective project post-mortem. Read on to learn how.

Make it mandatory

A project’s post-mortem should be a standard practice followed after the execution of a project, irrespective of the results. Just because you are going to discuss and document the lessons learned doesn’t mean a post-mortem must be conducted after the project's completion. You can conduct a meeting at any stage of the project, i.e., after every milestone. After a wrap-up, ask your team to gather for the post-mortem meeting and discuss the project from the beginning.

Hand out a questionnaire forum

This meeting shouldn’t go on for more than an hour. Besides, most employees won’t be comfortable speaking up in this setting. Distributing a questionnaire and asking your employees to fill them out anonymously will give everyone an equal opportunity to express their thoughts.

It also gives people the time to think about what went wrong instead of coming up with any random theory hastily. For example, if you were unable to finish a project by the deadline, what caused the failure? Was it that you set the wrong schedule for the project? Or did the manager assign complex tasks to incompetent people? That way, you can focus on the bigger issues that can impact future projects.

Select a mediator

The goal of a project post-mortem is to identify the causes of failure. It’s all about constructive feedback and identifying areas that can be improved. Someone must listen to everyone closely and ensure the meeting goes in the right direction. By the end of this discussion, you must have a clear picture of the areas you need to improve. A mediator will keep the discussion productive, focused, and clear. You don’t have to assign this role to the project manager, supervisor, or someone from the team. Anyone who’s willing to volunteer can do it.

Follow the right procedure

Where do you start this discussion, and how to end it? If you haven’t been part of a project post-mortem before, it’s pretty simple. You just need to set a clear procedure that’s followed after every project completion. You can start with the recap. Discuss the goals you had established for the project. This shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes. Then, review the results. The last step is discussing why the project ended up the way it did and where you could have improved.

Bottom Line

The meeting after a project is conducted to answer questions like what we accomplished from this project, what were the reasons we failed, and what we could have done better. When done correctly, a project post-mortem can save you from the same mistakes in future projects.