Finishing a project is a wonderful time. The stress of all the planning, implementing and impending deadlines eases and instead you’re on the cusp of euphoria. The light at the end of the tunnel is just ahead.
But before you or your team sit back and enjoy a round of celebratory drinks, there is still critical work that remains: the post-mortem meeting.
What is the purpose of a post-mortem meeting?
The best way to assess the work, the process, and even the team dynamic is to conduct a project post-mortem, also called a retrospective or “lessons learned” meeting. Whatever you call it, a post-mortem is a team gathering at the end of a project to examine the challenges, successes and what to do differently next time.
Because, for even the most successful projects, things don’t always go as planned. There’s a good chance there are always better, more efficient or smoother ways to run projects.
And this article will help guide you toward that end, including:
- The benefits of post-mortem meetings
- How to run a post-mortem meeting
- What to do after a post-mortem meeting
Benefits of post-mortem meetings
Many people assume that post-mortems are only for specific, often one-off projects. Although extremely important for cut-and-dry projects with a start and end date – e.g., website development, software launches, annual reports, etc. – they’re just as useful for ongoing business and marketing efforts.
Post-mortems can keep the big picture in perspective, whether conducted monthly, quarterly, or annually.
By reflecting on recent work, future projects will be more likely to succeed and inefficiencies less likely to be repeated.
How to run post-mortem meetings
There are a few ways to run this meeting, but it’s most important to keep the focus on the main goal: to find better ways to work together.
When running a post-mortem, you should always try to answer the following lessons learned:
- What went right during that can be repeated in the future?
- What went wrong that should either be avoided in the future or corrected now?
- What can be done differently next time?
For the best results, have a mix of both qualitative and quantitative questions. Also, make post-mortems a standard part of your team’s process.
Tips for better post-mortem meetings
Get the most out of running a post-mortem meeting with the tips below.
- Host for projects large and small, successful and not-so-successful: there is always something to learn
- Schedule immediately after a project ends (or as close to as possible): this helps keep perspectives “fresh”
- For longer projects create a place to dump ideas as time goes on, it’s often hard to remember what worked or didn’t months after the fact
- Have a set agenda for the meeting
- Include clients and vendors if it is relevant
- Don’t place blame on any specific person: it’s not about employee performance but reviewing the work
- Create actionable takeaways: how can you “do better” next time?
- Designate a note-taker and a moderator
