by Martyn Allez

Created on: July 05, 2009

Take 100 projects run by 100 different project managers and you will find at least 100 different ways to fail. The basics come up time and time again as some sort of endless loop from Project Management 101 - have a plan, communicate better, resource properly, etc.....

Here's a thought - have a look at a few past projects and see what happened there. Whether they were successes or failures doesn't matter, have a good look and do or adapt the good things while avoiding the bad. Simple really, it used to be called post-project review but each method has its own name. At best it contributes greatly to the knowledge about projects and processes, at worst it's a tick the box exercise by the outgoing project manager - there's one learning point about good and bad practice already.

A word of warning though - typically such reviews will concentrate on what was achieved and will place the project in terms of business costs and benefits. Seldom does the review look at all at the project processes, though the better methodologies and more skilled project managers will tell you that this is as important as a review of what was delivered by the project. If methodologies and supporting processes within an organisation are to grow in the light of experience then process review is essential. No methodology can be written to take into account every project issue or every possible environmental factor that might be encountered. Processes, like people, need to grow and evolve in the light of experience. This will not happen by osmosis, the review, react and improve cycle needs to become a part of the organisation's culture.

Many Quality Management texts refer to the art of process improvement or simply doing things better. The Japanese word Kaizen is often used to encapsulate the concept. Taken to the ultimate and logical conclusion each process in the project methodology should have a step that examines how that process could be improved in the future. This approach can ensure that processes develop both organically and incrementally and is applicable to the way that project review stages at the end of each project phase and post-implementation are carried out. It can cause extreme pain if not managed properly since endless change in processes will undermine the ability to deliver change. In project terms this means that each process / step in the project lifecycle should have the review and modification step. This may be implicit or explicit but project processes will

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