If you’ve been a part of any project, you know that things do not always go as planned. Even if you finish on time and on a low budget, there is a good chance that you will always find better ways to manage projects.
The best way to evaluate your work is to have a post-mortem project meeting (also called a retrospective meeting for those of you who get a certain feeling when you hear the word post-mortem).
Let’s take a closer look at what a post-mortem project management meeting is.
What is a post-mortem meeting in project management?
A post-mortem autopsy project is a gathering that takes place at the end of a project where the team examines the challenges and successes of the effort. There are several ways to conduct this session, but the main goal of any post-mortem project is to find better ways to work together.
In this post, we will give you the tools you need to prepare for, run and monitor project meetings, including:
Get started by downloading the post-mortem report template of the free Google Sheets project.
The benefits of posthumous meetings in the project
Many teams are aware of post-mortem sessions and understand the value, but often do not waste the time needed to hold them. The excuses for skipping post-mortem meetings in a project range from being too busy, lacking a budget and even a lack of understanding of how to run a meeting properly.
At the heart of all this is the organization. You must get support to perform a post-mortem. And companies need to invest in improving processes and efficiency. So talk to your leadership about these benefits of post-mortem meetings of the project.
- Achieve efficiency: You will discover better ways to approach tasks and projects.
- Increase morale: Talking about problems and celebrating victories will bring your team closer and excite them towards their next project.
- Work better together: By listening to many perspectives, your team will become more empathetic to the way everyone works.
- Learn from mistakes: It’s time to check what went wrong and find better ways to approach advanced projects.
- Close closure: This meeting can be a single step in the official closing of the books on projects.
- Share inside information: Sharing meeting results with the rest of your organization will help inform better practices and create a valuable dialogue about how you work within your organization (not just with your team).
- Celebrate the successes: This is not just a meeting scheduled to talk about the negative things.
How to prepare for a post-mortem project
There are several ways to have a post-mortem, and a couple is tested below. But, as you may have already realized, it is important that you have a method of how you approach the meeting before you jump in. Sure, informal meetings are great for finding out topics. But a post-mortem project needs to be more organized to get the most out of your precious time.
1. Organize the agenda of the post-mortem project meeting
Before you go into a post-mortem session, make sure you have arranged the most important talking points. If you want to maximize your time, you will first get the thoughts of the team and then organize your agenda for the meeting.
On the agenda of your post-mortem session, you should discuss “what worked” and “what did not work” with your team. Keeping the discussion high level will invite comments and perspectives on a variety of topics.
The best way to maintain your agenda is to quickly resolve discussion points by assigning the next step. The next steps can be in the form of further discussion, a new template or a new policy for your company. Saving notes will help you go through and keep track of all the agenda items.
2. Prepare for a posthumous meeting with your staff
Option 1: Gather before a meeting
Sit back for a very short 15-minute session in front of a board and simply ask your team to write down “what worked” and “what did not work”. Walk around the room to let everyone comment and record all the answers on a board.
This session should be short and sweet, so list only items. Do not get into discussions, you will save it for later.
Option 2: Post-mortem questionnaire
If your team’s time is reduced, save the actual meeting for a real discussion and send them a simple post-mortem questionnaire in advance. It will get everyone’s talking points in advance and allow you to have a helpful discussion.
The risk you run when using a post-mortem survey is that your team is too busy to fill it out. So if you go this route, be prepared to follow comments. Or, better yet, make the post-mortem questionnaire short and simple.
Post-mortem survey questions on a project can be as simple as “what worked” and “what did not work”. Alternatively, you can deepen by asking your team to rate the team’s overall performance on a scale of 1-10, such as An example of a post-mortem survey of the project.
![Post-death team survey template of a project](https://assets-global.website-files.com/5a690960b80baa0001e05b0f/5c793d75451e12536f71bbb3_Project%20post-mortem%20meeting%20team%20survey%20example.png)
Download the full project Afterlife: Team Survey, And make a copy to fit your project and team.
Use baselines to identify wins and problems in the project
Baselines Allow you to take a quick snapshot of a project at any given point in time. We recommend setting a baseline when launching the project so that you have a clear record of where your program started and can track changes in front of the same threshold.
Baselines are a great tool for finding points to discuss in a project at your post-mortem. Look for tasks that have fallen behind or won deadlines so you can break down the reasons with your team and learn from your project history.
Watch this video to see how the baselines work in TeamGantt.
Synthesis points to guide the post-mortem discussion of your project
Typically, you will see topics pop up at that first meeting or in your survey. Pull these issues out and create a simple presentation to lead the conversation during the project’s post-mortem surgery session.
Create slides that define the overall theme and continue with specific comments from your team, if necessary. These facts help the team remember what is being said and can spark a conversation.
It is important to remember that slides are not important, the talking points are. So if creating a slide seems excessive to you, make notes.
How to run a post-mortem meeting project
If you follow this process, all your hard work will be done even before you enter the post-mortem session. You know the challenges and reduce them to about an hour or 90 minutes of talking points. Remember to keep this meeting focused, so follow these simple rules.
8 basic rules for post-mortem meetings in the project
Before you jump in, it is very important to remember that these sessions are designed to discuss issues openly without creating a negative work environment. There is a fine line between discussing issues and complaining about them.
To move forward, you need to talk freely and openly (not negatively) about how you can improve your process and consequently your work. To ensure this happens, establish and discuss some ground rules for your project’s post-mortem session:
- Bring a facilitator to chair the meeting. As a project manager, it does not have to be you. If you were part of the project team, you must attend the meeting. If you can not get someone to fulfill this role in a meeting, make the instruction a team effort.
- Keep it light. This is a learning session and should be fun. Start by discussing the positive things and celebrating your successes.
- Be constructive, not destructive. Mention the issue, and focus on the solution. Identify where the process works and where it breaks down.
- Do not be personal. It’s not a matter of blaming or pointing a finger. You are there to discuss challenges and solve problems, so keep it high level. If there was a problem with a person, it should have been discussed with the person in charge of that person.
- Cover all your bases. Find out what made the project simple, difficult, fun or miserable.
- Would respect each other’s point of view. Everyone has an equal base in this session. This means no one needs to control the conversation. Give each team member a chance to share their point of view.
- Record. It is not important to capture every detail, such as the subject, the solution, action items and who owns each item. You may also want to follow new ideas to give your team a roadmap to improve processes.
- Meet the meeting destination. Be sure to go out with a set of action items and owners.
Make sure your post-mortem meeting project is a safe place where staff can share their sincere feelings without calling others.
Again, make sure everyone understands the purpose of the post-mortem session: get out there with solid learning and apply in future projects. You must maintain intention at the forefront of this process to get what you need out of it.
How to write a post-mortem report for your project
So what do you do with all these great discussion items? The goal in capturing action items and owners is to spread the information and get around. This is where the post-mortem report of the project comes into play.
A post-mortem report allows you to document important findings and put issues and ideas into responsible action. Download our free post-mortem report template, Then follow these simple steps to write a post-mortem report for your projects.
- Write down all the topics and ideas discussed in your post-mortem session.
- Write down possible solutions to each problem and idea.
- Add action items to any problem, idea, or solution.
- Assign each action item to the owner.
- Capture more details as comments.
It’s a team effort to make changes as you take on new projects. So find a way to share your project in a post-mortem report with others – especially if you work for a larger organization.
One person can lead all post-mortem meetings and set up regular forums for sharing relevant information. The more you can connect the changes, the better your whole organization will develop its process and practices.
Remember, it is best to apply the change as soon as possible.
Tailor the post-mortem process of the project to your team
A well-practiced post-mortem project or retrospective process can help any organization. Of course, there are plenty of ways to have a post-mortem meeting, so feel free to tailor the ideas here to create a process that works for your team.
Meet the goals of the meeting. Set your ground rules for a post-mortem meeting and most importantly – follow them. You will find yourself constantly learning, getting better often and feeling much better about the job.
Improve project success with TeamGantt
Want to earn more wins in the project? TeamGantt has everything you need to smooth the twists and turns in the process and get your team talking. Easily plan and evaluate projects, track progress and collaborate with your team in real time, and make sure to update clients and stakeholders at every step.
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