SPEAKER: In this video, we're going
to discuss project closing.
We'll answer the questions, what does
a project closing mean, why is it important,
and when does it occur?
Project closing consists of the process performed
to formally complete the project, the current phase,
and contractual obligations.
The first thing you should know is that completing a project
is not the same thing as closing a project.
Just because a project is done doesn't mean it's closed.
In a restaurant, just because you've ordered your meal
and finished, it doesn't mean your dining experience is over.
You have to pay the bill before you leave.
It's the same idea with projects.
So what does it actually take for a project to be closed?
There are three criteria that make up a project closing.
You'll want to ensure all work is done,
ensure that the agreed upon project
management processes are executed,
and get formal recognition from stakeholders
that the project is done.
First, you must assure all work is done.
There's a chance one of your tasks may have been overlooked.
Let's say there was a change made
that called for reprioritizing work during the project.
For instance, when your team completed user acceptance
testing for Project Plant Pals, everything
was finished and wrapped up.
But months later, a customer searches
for allergy information about the plants
on Office Green's site.
But that information is nowhere to be found.
If you did a review before wrapping the project,
you might have found that this task, creating
allergy documentation, was overlooked and therefore
not completed.
In doing a review of the project,
you double and triple check that all work
is done to avoid having to revisit the project later on.
Next, you must ensure that all agreed upon project management
processes are executed.
Sometimes managerial tasks get overlooked.
If the task itself is finished, the procedural or
administrative work that needs to take place afterwards
might slip your mind.
An example might be getting contracts signed and processed.
It might have been months since the project was completed.
But when you revisit the contract with your plant
provider, you realize that neither of you
ended up actually signing it.
This is a crucial misstep that leaves both parties vulnerable.
And it's now taking place way after the new service's
official launch.
Finally, you'll need formal recognition and agreement
that the project is complete by key stakeholders.
If you don't have formal approval from all stakeholders
that a project is over, certain stakeholders
may still request adjustments to the project
because they'll think it's still active.
This may affect various members of your team.
For instance, if Office Green's contracted web developers
believe that the project is still active,
they may still be dedicating time and even billing
hours of work on this project, which means
wasted money for Office Green.
In the same way that all of the previous phases of the process,
like initiation, planning, executing, monitoring
and controlling, serve a purpose,
closing serves its own equally important purpose.
Closing a project is important because it ensures that nothing
has fallen through the cracks.
If a project isn't closed, your team's efforts, time,
and credibility may be negatively impacted.
To avoid negative impacts to your team,
there are a couple of different types of projects that you'll
want to know about and avoid.
These are the never-ending project and the abandoned
project.
The never-ending project exists when, for whatever reason,
the project deliverables and tasks cannot be completed.
This may occur when tasks are delegated to team members who
don't have the skills necessary to complete the tasks
or when deadlines aren't properly communicated--
maybe when user acceptance testing
yields too many non-launch blocking bugs
or when your client is unsatisfied despite meeting
their requirements.
Pay special attention to protecting
the scope of your project, and you're
much more likely to close a project successfully.
If it feels like the customer wants much more from you
than this project is slated to deliver,
maybe the best option is to commit to a follow-up project
and close the current one.
The abandoned project exists when
inadequate hand-off of the project deliverables occurs.
Basically, the final deliverable never
makes it to your customer.
It wouldn't make sense to build a product
and then not be able to market it or sell it.
Making plans to ensure an adequate handoff or transition
deliverables is crucial to ensure customers are happy
and projects are properly closed.
In summary, you'll want to do everything
you can to properly close a project because it may leave
you on the hook for incomplete contracts, incomplete scope,
or non-compliant practices.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
A formal closing process is important
not only because improper closing
may leave you on the hook for incomplete contracts
or incomplete scope but also because you
want stakeholders to feel like their needs were met.
As we mentioned earlier, a project team's relationship
with customers, users, vendors, and so on
can be impacted by loose ends.
If relationships are impacted negatively,
your team's credibility may be impacted.
Typically, stakeholders set the goals and scope of the project
alongside the project manager.
So a good project manager will always
want to make sure those stakeholders are satisfied
with the quality of deliverables and the end product too.
So how can you make sure that clients and key stakeholders
are happy with the project closing?
First, you'll want to decide if your project warrants
a small closing process at the end of each milestone
or a formal and more comprehensive
closing phase near the very end.
You may even decide to do both a small closing
process at the end of each milestone and a more
formal closing phase at the very end.
You'll determine this by asking yourself
if a particular milestone is final,
meaning the milestone will not need to be readdressed
at a later time in the project.
If so, having a short formal closeout
will ensure that everyone is clear on the outcomes
of that particular milestone.
For example, let's put this in the context of the Project
Plant Pals' website launch.
Launching the website is an official milestone.
So having a formal closeout to the website launch
might make sense.
Yes, there will still be ongoing updates and maintenance
to the site.
But it won't be launched again.
So the launch is a one-time event.
So you need to make sure you're handing over deliverables,
putting together the proper documentation,
and alerting all stakeholders that you've
reached that milestone and that that portion of the project
is now closed.
If you decide to conduct closing processes after each phase
or milestone, here's what that will look like for your team.
First, you'll ensure that the project
has satisfied the strategic goals
that it was intended to meet.
To begin, you'll want to refer to prior documentation
such as your statement of work, request for proposal,
risk register, and RACI chart.
You'll recall that these documents were
discussed in previous sections.
So feel free to revisit those as a refresher.
While doing so, ask yourself, was
all of the required work in the elapsed phase done?
Were all identified issues addressed?
Did every team member complete their assigned tasks?
Then you'll put together closing documentation,
such as creating closeout reports,
which we'll cover in depth later.
You'll build and review that documentation with team members
to make sure that every aspect of the project
has been discussed.
You'll also review notes from any retrospectives you
and your team participated in.
This way your team members will get a chance
to speak about the aspects they liked or didn't like,
and they'll leave with a sense of closure.
Next, you'll conduct administrative closure
of the procurement process, close any contracts necessary,
deliver the payments to vendors, and retrieve
all final deliverables from contracted workers.
This is really important so that external stakeholders
and contracted workers can understand
that the phase or the project is officially over.
Then you'll want to formally recognize the completion
of the phase, if necessary.
Make sure all stakeholders are aware that a phase
or project is ending.
This may be as simple as sending out an email notifying them
that you've achieved this milestone,
or it may warrant a larger meeting.
Finally, you'll complete any necessary follow-up work.
This includes things like gathering final feedback
and conducting closing surveys.
This way, you'll proactively help stakeholders
with future issues by following up and offering support.
If instead of closing after certain phases or milestones
you've decided to close at the very end of your project,
your process may be a little bit different.
Here's what that might look like.
First, provide the necessary training, tools, documentation,
and capabilities to use your product.
This includes things like manuals and how-to guides,
which give your customers a users and understanding of how
to use your product or service after the project is closed.
Next, ensure that the project has satisfied
its goals and desired outcomes.
Review the project to make sure that all tasks
and deliverables were completed and nothing is missing.
Did you accomplish what you set out to do?
Is the full scope of work completed?
You'll also want to document acceptance
from all stakeholders, like clients and sponsors.
Ensuring that you have written proof
that stakeholders are happy with the deliverables and outcomes
is very important.
This could be in retrospectives, a project completion document,
or any other formal sign-off.
Then review all contracts and documentation
with your project team.
This includes things like your SOW, RFP, RACI chart,
risk register, and the procurement documents
that we discussed earlier.
Including your whole team in this review process
will help you make sure that nothing is missed.
Always document your lessons learned by conducting
a formal retrospective.
Include your team, any other teams involved,
your stakeholders, and outside vendors in this meeting.
We'll go over this in more detail in the next video.
Finally, you can disband and thank the project team.
The next important step in closing
a project for the stakeholders is impact reporting.
Impact reporting is a presentation
that's given at the end of a project for key stakeholders,
which typically includes the stakeholders you had
in the initial kickoff meeting.
The purpose of impact reporting is
to demonstrate how the project went
and discuss the impact of your product or service.
It's important for the project manager
because you'll be able to demonstrate
the success of your project on your terms
and present the work you did to add value to the business.
In this presentation, you'll cover
how the project landed in terms of time, scope, and budget.
You'll state when the new service or product
launch and discuss any available feedback from users.
And you'll explain how the desired outcomes were achieved.
Now you know more about how stakeholders and customers
can get a clear understanding that your project is closed.
We've discussed why that's necessary,
and how your reputation and credibility can be affected
if you don't do extensive work to close
the project completely.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I've talked to you about retrospectives quite
a bit throughout this program.
And that's because there really is no better tool
for reflection and improvement.
Retrospectives are such an important aspect
of the project, and it's important to really emphasize
that to you.
Throughout the course, I'm referring
to the formal practice.
But a lot of us conduct informal retrospectives daily
without even knowing it.
Whether we're talking about our day with our friends or family,
or thinking about how we can improve past interactions,
we are constantly reflecting and working toward progress.
So let's revisit formal retrospectives for a moment
to explore how they tie into the formal project closing process.
You might remember that a retrospective
is a meeting aimed to discuss successes, failures,
and possible improvements on the project.
They can occur after a major milestone completion
and at the end of a project.
In order to understand the importance
of closing a project, let's discuss
the three main retrospective benefits for your team.
Retrospectives encourage team building
because they allow team members to understand
differing perspectives.
Retrospectives facilitate improved collaboration
on future projects.
And they promote positive changes in future procedures
and processes.
So it's no surprise that a retrospective
is a critical part of closing a project.
Whether your team has chosen to close
the project after each phase or comprehensively at the end,
you'll conduct retrospectives as a part of that process.
There may be temptation within your project team
to resist reflecting before forging ahead
into the next phase.
But you can't grow and improve if you
don't spend time reflecting.
Reflecting is a great way to learn
which practices you should keep doing
and which ones you can improve upon.
As a project manager, you want to build
a culture within your team and company
to aim for constant improvements.
This means that you'll need to solicit
feedback that will help you to do better in your next project.
This feedback might touch on any aspect of the project,
from planning, scheduling, execution, communication,
or team dynamics.
You might receive feedback about processes you led.
And that's OK.
Working through feedback is crucial to your growth
as a project manager.
It's important to create a safe space for that feedback
so that folks can really share what they're thinking
and the team can grow together.
This is a key piece to help improve collaborations
on future projects.
Part of encouraging continuous growth
is to recognize and celebrate a job well done.
The way you celebrate will change depending
on where you're at in the project
and what feels most appropriate to your team.
Taking a moment to reward yourselves
with a token of appreciation turns the celebration
into a team-building exercise.
Being appreciative ensures that the work you're doing
feels uplifting and rewarding, rather
than monotonous and tiring.
It also fuels positive change.
So when closing a project, don't forget the fun elements.
Make sure to play a game, eat some cake,
and celebrate some quality time together
because you've earned it.
Let's review.
Retrospectives encourage team building
because they allow team members to understand
differing perspectives.
They facilitate improved collaboration
on future projects, and they promote positive changes
in future procedures and processes.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Let's discuss what the project closure process means for you,
the project manager.
For a project manager, it's important to close a project
properly for a number of reasons.
Closing provides an opportunity to reflect
on how you and your team performed,
ensure every task is completed, and prevent confusion
around the project in the future.
I'll detail the importance of these closing practices
as well as the necessary documentation
to successfully close a project.
One of the most important aspects
of thoroughly closing a project is the project closeout report.
A project closeout report is a document
created by project managers for project managers.
A project closeout report serves three major purposes.
First, it's a blueprint to document what the team did,
how they did it, and what they delivered.
Second, it provides an evaluation
of the quality of work.
And third, it evaluates the project's performance
with respect to budget and schedule.
Similar to the retrospective, the project closeout report
can be used to determine best practices when
it comes to future projects.
Think of it as a transfer of knowledge from you
to future project managers.
For instance, once a project closes,
there's a chance a similar project or a continuation
of that project will come up within the organization.
And maybe a different project manager
is assigned to this new project while you go onto other things.
If you create an in-depth closeout report,
it will help the newly assigned project manager
immensely to know what happened previously
on a similar project.
Your closeout report could include
things that worked out well and things
that didn't work out so well.
Creating a closeout report will also
reduce the time you spend answering questions
as the new project manager gets up to speed.
It's safe to assume that the people reading
your report in the future will be unfamiliar with the project.
So be as detailed as possible.
That way, the new project team will
be able to form an understanding of the purpose, execution,
and outcome of the project based on your report alone.
In your project closeout report, you'll
want to include the following things.
An executive summary-- this means
a description of the process and what the purpose of the project
was.
This should be short and concise,
a few sentences to a paragraph maximum.
If an executive didn't have time to read the entire document
and only had time to read this executive summary,
would they be able to understand the project highlights?
A list of key accomplishments--
think of this as a way to highlight
the team's accomplishments as well as the overall impact
of the project.
Include any lessons learned, like what went well and why,
what went wrong and why.
What were the major effects of key problem
areas, such as scope creep and schedule slip?
Any open items-- this could be things you didn't quite
get to or ideas for changes you'd
make if you had had the time.
Your next step-- things like are there
expected followup projects and is there
any ongoing maintenance required?
You also want to include important information
about the schedule and important deadlines,
like what were your milestones and how
did you choose them, how long did the project take,
did the project stay on track, and any information
about major setbacks.
Be sure to list resources and team members.
Explain who was involved and what their roles were.
This is also a key way to acknowledge
people who contributed to the project's completion.
And finally, include a resources and project archive section.
This will include links to things
like your original project plan; any documented stakeholder
communication and feedback, like meeting notes;
any documentation used to track, monitor, and report;
and any technical information related
to the project deliverables, like user guides and manuals.
Hopefully by now you understand how project closeout reports
are beneficial to not only the organization but the project
manager as well.
Project closeout reports promote visibility among team members
and create more efficient future projects.
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