Why Project Post Mortems Should Not Cover Up Mistakes

For a project post mortem to be worthwhile, mistakes should be highlighted, not erased. 

If the purpose of the post mortem exercise is to learn and do better next time, you need to understand not only what went right but, sometimes more importantly, what went wrong. Learning and improving is the whole point. Celebrate and reinforce the victories and learn from the mistakes that were made so they won’t be repeated in the future. And yet highlighting mistakes can be difficult and painful…especially in company cultures where employees are afraid of unfair retribution, fearful of blame or overly sensitive to positional hierarchy.

More often than not, problems with projects are associated with poor communication in settings where openness is not valued and the repercussions of pointing out a failure along the way are too severe. Sometimes the lack of communication can have tragic results.

A study was published in 1996 by Rebecca Chute of San Jose State University and NASA along with Earl L. Wiener of the University of Miami. They followed up on an 1989 Air Ontario crash that was caused by too much ice on the wings. A flight attendant had noticed snow on the wings but did not advise the pilot because:

1. Operational concerns were not her role
2. She had faith in the pilot’s training and awareness of all situations
3. Pilots in the past had been unresponsive to crew members’ reports
4. She had been made to feel “stupid” when relating potential safety concerns

The paper went on to examine the separate organizational cultures at work between cockpit and cabin crews and the social psychology behind the lack of communication of what could have been a life-saving message. The important lesson to carry forward is that when safety is a concern, the vital information must be passed along to those who can do something about it. 

In a less critical setting, important information about a possible failure or roadblock during a project’s life should be passed along to project leaders. No one should be made to feel “stupid” for making a mistake or for reporting one. If the project continues without adjusting to the warning, it could completely derail. For example, during a recent project post mortem session at a technology client, the project sponsor was aghast to learn that a $15m mistake could have been easily avoided if the project team felt more comfortable voicing their concerns during the project planning phase.

The message to project leaders and team members is that open and frequent communication can make the difference between project failure and success. Make sure you establish an environment where mistakes become opportunities to learn, not opportunities to place blame or censure.  You will know your project communication is on the right track when project team members believe that:

• Communication among project stakeholders is very good.
• Communication is good throughout our project team.
• Leadership has communicated a project vision that is motivating.
• They are well informed about issues.
• They have enough information and resources to do their job well.
• Project leadership listens to and takes project team member ideas seriously.
• Feedback to project leadership is well received and followed up on.

Learn more at: http://www.lsaglobal.com/project-post-mortem-training-consulting/

What Project Leaders Can Learn from Corporate Crisis Management

Maybe you didn’t even see it coming. That is often the nature of a corporate crisis. They come without warning and leaders typically have to act quickly with limited information to effectively manage the fallout. A sudden corporate disaster requires a fast and well-executed public response with clear and meaningful actions.

Just think about the challenges of a few of the better publicized corporate debacles of the last decade: the AIG bonus scandal, Walmart’s factory fire in Bangladesh, Abercrombie and Fitch CEO’s offensive comments, and Target’s data breach, to name just a few. Some organizations emerged in pretty good shape; for others, the damage is long-lasting and perhaps will never be overcome. All struggle with identifying the most effective way to handle a corporate crisis and to rescue credibility and reputation.

The strategy for recovering from a corporate crisis is not unlike handling the repercussions of a visible or important project gone sour. Here are some tips from crisis management experts that can be applied to a project post mortem to make sense of a failed project and manage better the next time:

• Assess
Take the time to look at the big picture and get a sense of what went wrong. Consult with a respected person who can be objective. Talk as well with all stakeholders to get their feedback. Share the input with your project team. Figure out together where you slipped up. Was it in the project definition stage around goals, business case, success metrics, sponsors, stakeholders, roles, resources or communication?  Was it in the project planning stage where you were over-optimistic or not detailed enough in the areas of risk management, planning, scheduling, or resourcing? Was it in the project execution phase in the areas of project kickoff, problem solving, conflict resolution, continuous improvement, rewards and recognition, meetings, accountability, trust, communication, change management or measurement?  

• Plan 
Create a smart plan for improvement. Coming clean early on and proposing a fix-it plan that aligns with your company values is the only strategy that really works. AIG tried to sidestep the issue, Walmart put in place a weaker safety plan than the European accord, and A&F hoped the negative comments would be forgotten. None of these strategies worked very well. Only Target’s strategy of transparency seems to have been the right move. Experts say the same thing whether for crisis management or for repair of the team after a failed project: acknowledge, assess, plan and act.

• Communicate, communicate, communicate
To recoup your credibility and reputation, communicate your plan to all stakeholders and follow through on the changes needed. Be accountable going forward. Answer questions openly and honestly. If you hide, suspicions will be raised about your sincerity. Let people know what you know, what you do not know and when you will be able to fill in the gaps.

The advantage of a project post mortem over crisis management is that:

1. You have more time to reflect with your team and think through what you might have done better and 
2. You have more control over making the improvements next time. 

Whether handling corporate crises or healing the wounds of a failed project, the steps to recovery are similar: gather input, set up a strategy for improvement, stay on message and follow through on your commitments.

Learn more at: http://www.lsaglobal.com/project-post-mortem-training-consulting/

3 Conflict Management Tips for High Performing Project Teams

The usual tip from project post mortems for successful projects is to assemble a team that is collaborative, communicates well with one another, and agrees upon the project goals and objectives. Sounds good, right? Our two decades of experience managing projects leads us to agree…but just to a point. We believe you can sometimes have too much of a good thing. Our contention? When the team thinks so much alike that they suffer from group think and do not allow conflict, project performance can suffer.

The negative effects of so-called group think are that innovation is stifled as dissenters are silenced by peer pressure, as complacency rules, and as your top talent flees because their differing perspectives are not seriously considered. None of these results are good for project success. In fact, when there is not the kind of open communication and discussion where healthy conflict is encouraged, it becomes harder for anyone to question the progress of the project and eventually for anyone to really care about the outcome.

For projects to succeed, you need a team that is open to challenging questions, considers all points of view, welcomes new ideas, responds well to change as needed, and encourages the learning and growth of the project team. In other words, you want a project team that does not avoid conflict but knows how to effectively manage it. 

Here are tips on handling conflict in a way that strengthens, not weakens, the project team:

1. Encourage differing opinions. 
Every project team meeting should have a time and space where questions about, and challenges to, the established project path are encouraged. How else are you going to be able to foresee problems and put out fires before they ignite?

2. Agree on what final success looks like.
As points of disagreement arise, make sure everyone keeps in mind the end picture of project success. All project team members should have the same goal. It’s just the path to get there that may be in dispute.

3. Decide which disagreements matter.
Not all points of contention are worth discussing. The only ones that matter are those that drive toward project goals. Don’t worry or waste time on small conflicts. They will be ironed out in due time as you handle the more significant issues and the project moves forward.

The bottom line? Not all conflict is bad. Sometimes conflict, even on the same team, can be a healthy reflection of a group that is open to questions, innovation and learning.

Learn more at: http://www.lsaglobal.com/project-post-mortem-training-consulting/

Project Post Mortem: When To Say NO

When you look back and evaluate how well your team dealt with a difficult project, consider this: what if you had said “no” more often? Would things have gone more efficiently or more smoothly?  A recent client lamented during their project post mortem session that a simple “NO” 6 weeks into the project would have saved them two years, $18 million and at least five careers.

There’s never enough time to satisfy every internal and external project stakeholder.  There is never enough time to “do everything.” So what do you do? You prioritize. This makes sense. You want to get the urgent/important tasks taken care of first. But what if you had taken an additional step and crossed some items off the list entirely? What if you had ignored those tasks that did not reach a reasonable level of importance, implementability or relevance?

Think carefully about what you would have gained in time, resources and team morale if you had done some triage upfront and eliminated extraneous steps and requirements. Just because they were on your project plan doesn’t mean they deserve equal time and attention. Before you slavishly struggle to complete every single one of the tasks on your list, make sure there’s a darn good reason not to ignore it. Make sure you know when a “no” would make your life easier, your efforts more productive, and the project a greater success.

Learn more at: http://www.lsaglobal.com/project-post-mortem-training-consulting/

3 Critical Ingredients for Success When Your Project Team Is All Over the Map

When your project team is virtual, spread across the globe geographically and culturally diverse, you need to be very thoughtful about who you invite to join the team. Over and above the specific talents of the team members you need to carry out the project successfully, it takes a special array of skills to work well remotely, especially when various cultures are involved. 

Effective remote team members need to be especially:

1. Adept at communication. They should be able to express themselves clearly, simply and speedily. Clarity matters when different languages are spoken on the team; simplicity matters so the main points are not muddled by unnecessary details; speed matters when you must work efficiently across time zones.
   
2. Independent and comfortable with ambiguity. Because they are isolated from others on the team, they cannot easily or quickly get questions answered or issues solved; they need to be able to operate and problem-solve on their own.
   
3. Skilled at building relationships virtually. Since team members cannot meet at the proverbial water fountain, they need to make their connections via phone and email. The team, even though virtual, should have an identity and a feeling of working together toward a common goal. This requires being able to engage others with ease.

Learn more at: http://www.lsaglobal.com/project-post-mortem-training-consulting/

Reframing Project Failure So You Can Quickly Learn and Improve

Failing on an important and visible project hurts—it can hurt a lot—but not all failure is bad. In fact, failure is an integral part of the learning and development process. You learn by adjusting to each little glitch and incorporating those lessons into your project definition, planning, organizing and controlling for future projects. The key is to reframe the way you think about failure and the steps you take to adjust to it.

Perhaps no better proving ground of the value of failure is in an effective project post mortem. Done well, project post mortems inform important ways to improve future projects by evaluating key aspects of the immediate past project’s successes and failures. Done right, any failures are accepted and examined as a team with the understanding that failures, big or small, good or bad, are inevitable.

Here are some positive ways to reframe project failure:

• Think ahead.  Anticipate and plan for various scenarios based upon your current business strategy, organizational culture and project team dynamics.  The future is uncertain but the more we can predict it, the less we will experience unexpected failures.
  
• Include the Team.  Engage project team members as problem solvers by acknowledging and uncovering obstacles you can anticipate and how their ideas and actions can help overcome them.
  
• Strive to Learn.  Encourage the idea of being smart about failures so lessons learned are passed along in what should be a culture of continuous learning.  Make sure that your level of innovation, risk taking and learning mindset matches the project sponsor’s risk tolerance.
  

Learn more at: http://www.lsaglobal.com/project-post-mortem-training-consulting/

How to Successfully Transition Once the Project is Over

The project was all consuming. You never had a moment to imagine what it would feel like when it ended. Now it has. You just completed the project post mortem meeting and the team has dispersed. But what you didn’t cover was what do you do now?

Here are a few tips on how to transition from a major achievement back to your job as usual:

• Take time to reflect on what is ahead. You will likely have a huge pile of work that accumulated while you were focused on the more important project. Understand you will feel a bit of a let- down. Rather than be overwhelmed by the backlog, make a list of priorities. What is most urgent and important?
  
• Expect a shift in pace. This is your chance to treat yourself a bit more gently. The project kept you going non-stop. Remember how to take a break, get some exercise, enjoy time with friends and family, and get some balance back in your life.
  
• Look to the future.  Use the less frenetic pace to consider what you want to tackle next. You have proven your ability to deliver. Now is your opportunity to choose the next big challenge.

Learn more at: http://www.lsaglobal.com/project-post-mortem-training-consulting/