(upbeat music)
- Hey, welcome to Coffee with Brett.
I'm Brett Harned,
and this is my coffee.
I am pretty caffeinated this morning,
and I'm ready to talk
about project management just for a few minutes.
Are you?
Yeah. Awesome.
Okay, so before we do, I just have a couple questions.
First, can you like this video for me?
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Okay, so I fully recognize that I'm being
that annoying YouTuber right now,
you can tell me how I did in the comments,
but I got to do it.
I'm sorry.
Alright, so now are you ready
to talk about project management for a few minutes?
Okay, what if I told you that the topic was kinda scary?
You're ready for it?
Post-mortems.
(screaming loudly)
Just kidding.
I didn't die.
Here I go.
Okay, so maybe that was a little dramatic,
a little obnoxious, but let's be honest.
This isn't about death.
Trust me.
This show will always be about project management
and yes, I'm trying to make that content exciting
and fun, but not that brand of exciting or fun.
Okay, so anyway here's the thing.
About one out of every three times,
I use the term post-mortem to describe this meeting.
Someone says, but that name's too negative,
or there has to be another name for it
or, you know, I don't like that name.
And yes, I get it.
You don't love the name.
I never said I did, but here we are.
And yes, there are other names that you can use
like retrospective, project debrief project,
post-project review or whatever you wanna name it.
Honestly, just go for it.
I actually love it when people need things on their own.
So if you've already renamed the post-mortem,
please share that in the comments.
But I'm going with post-mortem,
because that's what a lot of people call it.
And guess what, I can, this is my show.
So you may be asking, alright then, well,
what is a post-mortem?
Good thing that I'm here.
A post-mortem is a meeting or a team gathering
that takes place at the end of a project
where the group examines the challenges
and successes of the project.
So as a PM, I've conducted a ton of these meetings.
I've also been a part of these meetings
as a contributor, and even as a stakeholder.
I can tell you that there are many, many ways to do this,
but making sure you're actually doing these meetings
it's a part of your process,
and then actually following up on them properly
is the thing that a lot of teams actually get wrong.
But you, you've got this.
So let's jump into the why and the how,
before we get to the end of the video.
So first, why even conduct a post-mortem meeting?
Actually, there are a lot of benefits
and they've magically just made their way
on the screen here.
First, you'll gain efficiency,
because as a team you'll uncover better ways
to approach tasks and projects.
Next, you'll be surprised
but running post-mortems tend to increase morale,
because talking about problems
and celebrating wins, brings your team together
and gets them excited about their next project.
And what does that do?
It improves teamwork.
Think about it, just by listening to the many perspectives,
your team will become more empathetic
to the way that they all work,
and the way that they work together.
You'll also be more open
and aware about learning from your mistakes as a team
because these meetings actually
help you to inspect what went wrong
and find better ways to approach projects moving forward.
A benefit there is that the work
that you do in your meeting, won't just help your team,
but you'll actually be able to help inform better practices
and create a valuable dialogue
about how you work within your organization.
And let's not forget these meetings
aren't all about identifying and fixing issues.
They're great for celebrating successes too.
And on that note, this is the kind
of meeting that's a good way
to close the books on a project.
And if you're a project manager,
you probably like these kinds of like formal steps.
Guess what?
This can totally be one.
So just plan on it.
Okay, so now you know why you need to do these meetings.
Let's talk about when and how.
So the when part is easy.
You know, do your post-mortems
when you need to discuss what just happened.
That's right.
You don't have to wait until the end of a project
to review what just happened.
In fact, I think it's a great practice
to work post-mortems into your overall process
of your project.
So I know that the definition of post-mortem,
I said that it was at the end,
but we're going against the grain here.
So here's an example.
If I'm working on a project that's a little bit longer,
I'll probably add post-mortems into the project
at the end of a phase or when a big deliverable is complete.
That way, if there were kudos or issues,
the team would forget about them a year from now
when the whole project is wrapped.
You know, getting your team's feedback
and input during your project,
can actually benefit you not only by fixing
what happened in the past,
but also looking at what's coming in the future
to see how you might adjust
or tweak your way of working on a project.
So don't feel like you have to wait
until the project is over just to do this.
Alright, so let's talk about how you do the meeting.
So there are actually quite a few ways to run a post-mortem,
and really you want to come up with a format
or process that works for your team.
Just remember, the goal of any post-mortem
is to discuss what worked well,
what didn't work well, and commit
to making the appropriate adjustments moving forward.
So in my experience I've tried surveys,
I've tried longer meetings,
moderated discussions, and a whole lot more.
They all work in varying degrees,
depending on the people that are involved.
Seriously, people affect everything
in project management.
That said, let me share my preferred approach.
So I actually split the meeting into two sessions.
The first session is a brain dump of sorts.
I'd get the whole team,
everyone who's been a part of the project
and maybe even stakeholders, if the relationship is solid,
and I do a quick 50-minute session
to get all of our thoughts out,
but not actually discuss them.
So I'd stand at the front of a whiteboard
or start a shared doc online,
and just go around the group
and ask them to add ideas to two columns.
And those would be, what worked and what didn't work.
Every person has a chance
to just say his or her thing
or add them to a board quickly and move on with their day.
There might be duplicates or similar content
or comments, and that's actually welcomed.
That's gonna tell you where the big wins
and the big issues are.
And hey, notice how I said wins there,
that's because post-mortems
are also about celebrating the things that you did well.
So don't just focus on the bad stuff here.
That's actually just a downer.
And really being a downer is never helpful,
but just talking about bad stuff,
isn't helpful all the time.
So after that quick session,
I'd get everything documented
and pull out the main themes and issues
to dig into a follow-up session.
That follow-up session could be anywhere
between 60 and 90 minutes long.
And I recommend you structure that meeting tightly
with an agenda, and maybe even with slides.
I tend to create one slide per topic or talking point.
So what they'll do in that meeting
is go through those major themes
and discuss why something went well,
or why something went wrong,
and then try to drive at how you can either formalize
or incorporate more of that behavior into your process,
or how you can combat against it in the future.
You're essentially driving an action items
in the post-mortem meeting.
When you bring up a topic, just read it,
and then ask a question to get the discussion started.
But also keep it headed in the right direction.
I might say something like, okay, the first issue
is that we didn't catch a major bug in our QA testing.
How can we avoid doing this in the future?
And then get into it with the team,
making sure everyone has the space
and the time to participate.
Okay, so just saying that reminds me
of meetings I've been in and how quickly conversation
can devolve into something chaotic and negative,
or how some folks can just be ignored.
Remember, it's your job to keep the meeting on track
and focused on the outcome of being better as a team.
So maybe you'd like to put some rules in place,
and mentioned them at the top of your meeting.
That's what I do.
On screen are just some sample rules
I've included in my post-mortems.
First, keep it light.
That's an easy rule,
but really sometimes you need to remind folks
that this is a learning session and could be fun.
Kick it off by discussing the positives
and celebrating your successes.
Next, be constructive, not destructive.
State the issue and focus on the solution.
Identify where the process works
and where it breaks down.
And that'll get you where you need to be as a team.
And honestly, it'll make your meeting so worth it.
Then don't get personal.
This isn't about placing blame or finger pointing.
In fact, I've literally said no finger pointing
in these meetings.
You're there to discuss challenges and resolve issues.
So don't get personal.
If a problem was about a person,
that probably should have been discussed
with that person's supervisor long before this meeting
and not in the meeting.
Next is to be respectful of one another's point of view.
Remember, everyone has equal footing in this meeting.
That means no one should dominate the conversation.
So be sure to give every team member a chance
to share their perspective
or even to respond to comments.
Next, take notes.
This one's really important.
It's not important to capture every single detail
as much as the issue, the solution, the action items,
and who owns each line item.
If you're getting these things from your meeting,
you've already been successful.
If you're getting new ideas, hey,
even better for you.
But get it all in the notes
so that you can actually act on those things
after the meeting, because if you don't,
you may as well not have had that meeting
in the first place.
Last, is actually not a meeting role
as much as a post-meeting mandate.
And it's the take action
on what was discussed in the meeting.
So you should create action items and plans,
check in on next steps,
and commit as a team to being better or even better.
So when I worked in an agency
as the head of project management
I was actually the person who oversaw all post-mortems.
The reason I took that on was because I saw
that my project managers were too busy
in all of their projects to effectively impact change,
based on what was kind of discussed in post-mortem meetings.
So as a manager, it was my job to follow up on action items
and report on bigger findings and even process changes
to the rest of the company so that they were basically aware
and onboard with what was going to be enacted.
I think if you can kind of assign that responsibility
in your organization,
you'll find a lot more success with your meetings
and their outcomes,
because one person can focus on it,
and one person can really drive that change.
Hey, guess what?
That's all I have for this topic right now.
If you're interested in learning more,
check out the project, post-mortem meeting
and report template on the TeamGantt blog.
And of course, give TeamGantt a try.
It's gonna help you to plan
and manage projects with ease and grace.
And I think that's probably all you want
as a project leader.
Alright, thanks again folks.
Enjoy the rest of your day
and good luck with your next post-mortem meeting
or whatever you call it.
Cheers.
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