PROJECT SUCCESS AND FAILURE POST-MORTEM
Institute a systematic project success and failure post-mortem after every project. The post-mortem is a critical component of a project life cycle. The review should stimulate discussion around six recommended questions:
- What was the project’s objective, and what did we set out to do?
- What actually happened during the project?
- Why did the project go the way it did?
- What are the top three things we would do again in the same situation?
- What are the top three things that did not work in the project that we would not do again?
- What lessons can we take from this experience to the next project?
‘Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.’
– Albert Einstein
FAIL FAST AND LEARN
Failure is derived from a Latin word that can be interpreted as ‘to stumble’ or ‘to trip.’ An essential capacity for individuals and companies to develop is the ability to learn from failures.
For many of us, COVID forced us to look at different ways to provide our services, manufacture our products, connect with our clients, conduct business remotely and operate under challenging restrictions.
We had to experiment and do things differently, some options worked, and some failed. Inevitably failures are a consequence of doing something new, and critical lessons can provide a complete picture of the costs and benefits related to assets, liabilities and the bottom line.
COSTS
- What were the labor, material, and production costs?
- What were the internal costs to the failure, the effect on morale or any fallout?
- What were the external costs reputationally with our customers or on the market?
CUSTOMERS
- What assumptions did we make around our customer’s needs?
- What assumptions need to be updated?
TEAM
- How effective were we working together?
- What processes, structures or cultural items need our attention?
- What skills do we need to focus on improving or gaining?
TRENDS
- What did we learn about trends that directly affect our business?
- What forecasts need adjusting?
BOTTOM LINE
What were the critical business insights learned?
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT OVER THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 2022 regarding your:
- Business culture
- Current organizational direction and strategies
- Customers dynamics
- Future trends
- Processes, and
- The changing market
‘ All organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they are now getting. If we want different results, we must change the way we do things.’
– Tom Northup
BUSINESS BOOK OF THE MONTH
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
By Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra
Senior partners at McKinsey & Company
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