Are you really ready to close that project?

Everyone is happy when they reach the end of a project, you think that the objectives have been met and that the customer is happy, so it’s time to move on to a new project, right?!

As much as everyone would like to move on to that new exciting project, there is still some work to do, it’s time to go through the ‘Closing a Project’ process.

The purpose of this process is to provide a fixed point to check that the project has reached its objectives and that the products have been accepted. This process is so important, but it’s quite often skipped to save cost and time, but this might not be the case in the long run. I hoped that sharing this blog would outline the importance of it… it’s a mandatory part of project methodologies, such as PRINCE2, for a reason.

It’s time to close a project, what should you do??

1) Verify user acceptance of the project’s products. During the planning process, you should have agreed the sign off criteria with the user, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that you should actually gain that sign off! What if the Project Team presume that the user is happy, surely they would have told you if they weren’t? Well, what it the User simply hasn’t had time to verify the acceptance criteria, and then 2 months later they find that there is the issue? Where would the blame lie, and what would you do when your Project team have already disbanded and moved on to their next projects? Completing this simple step can avoid issues like this and provide a clear cut off point.

2) Transfer ownership of the products. The Project Team can’t be responsible for the product forever, they need to be able to move on to the next project, therefore the ownership of the product needs to handed to someone else. Now this obviously depends on what the end product is, so during the planning process you should have identified who the product needs to be formally handed over too. For example, the customer may have ownership of the product, but the Project Team are also required to hand over the support and maintenance of that product to another team. What would happen if you didn’t complete this step and then the product requires support? If no information has been handed over, then how will they support it? Would the customer be annoyed that a hand over hasn’t been completed?

3) Evaluate the project. It’s time to compare the project objectives with the actuals and write the End Project Report. This report is likely to differ depending on the project and the way the Project Manager likes to work, however it should contain the following:

• Project Managers Repot
• Review of the Business Case
• Review of the Project Objectives
• Review of the Teams performance
• Lessons Report
• Review of the Products

This information should feed back into various processes, and the way this happens depends of the organisations structure, processes, and policies. In my organisation, we have a Project Management Office who are responsible for maintaining a Lessons Learned database which will be referenced in future projects. They are also responsible for Process Improvement, so they will often provide feedback to departments regarding what could be done differently next time. Personally, I think that many businesses are missing a trick by skipping this step. Why wouldn’t you want to make improvements?

4) It’s now time to recommend that the project is ready for closure. The Project Manager with send a notification to the Project Board. The Project Board will then make the decision to close the project – in PRINCE2 this is called Authorising Project Closure.

Following these 4 simple steps will make your life easier. No assumptions have been made and everything has been verified. Now it’s time to move on the next project!