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Best Practices

Conducting a Postmortem

By Saul Carliner

After you complete a project, one of the most significant activities you can conduct is to identify the lessons that you will carry forward to future projects. One of the most effective methods of identifying these lessons is a special meeting of the project team called the postmortem.

A postmortem is a meeting of all members of the project team at the end of the project to identify:

• what went well and should be repeated on future projects; and
  
  
• what did not go well and how to avoid these situations on future projects.

In addition, the postmortem should provide time for the members of the project team to thank one another for their contributions. Often during the course of a project, team members become so comfortable working with one another that they do not thank each other for their contributions or acknowledge exceptional work. As a result, team members might not realize that their colleagues appreciate their contributions. The postmortem provides a formal opportunity for team members to offer one another such recognition.

Here are some tips for conducting a postmortem:

1. Send a meeting notice to team members at least two weeks in advance. Invite all team members to participate.
   
   
2. Prepare and distribute an agenda before the meeting. A typical agenda for a postmortem is no longer than 60 to 90 minutes and contains separate items for the following:
   
   
   • what went right
     
     
   • what to improve on future projects (do not use the postmortem as a "blaming" session; instead, use the postmortem as an opportunity to identify problems and suggest solutions to them); and
     
     
   • acknowledgement and appreciation.
     
     
3. At the meeting, create a positive, productive environment. Ask someone to recorder the proceedings. The recorder should prepare minutes, which will be distributed after the meeting.
   
   
4. Set the right tone for the meeting by emphasizing the positive and providing each team member with an opportunity to speak. For example, when asking about what to improve for future projects, rather than just asking people to provide suggestions, go around the meeting table and ask each person to provide at least one suggestion, then open up the question to the group for feedback.
   
   
5. Avoid passing judgment on comments. Each team member may have experienced a project differently, depending on the members’ personalities and their roles in the project. While some team members may have had a positive experience, others might not. Only by hearing how each team member perceived the project can the project team better understand their interactions with one another.
   
   
6. Close with some sort of celebration. For example, you could provide a cake that says "Congratulations" or a small gift for each team member.
   
   
7. Publish the minutes of the postmortem within two business days.
   
   
8. For suggestions requiring changes to your organization’s policies and procedures, provide a follow-up memo to team members within one month of the meeting to tell them whether the policy and procedures will be changed.

Postmortem meetings provide valuable closure to projects, letting participants separate emotionally from one project so they can move onto the next.

Saul Carliner is a popular speaker and author on information design, e-learning, and related management issues. His books include Techniques for Technical Communicators, An Overview of Online Learning, and the upcoming Designing e-Learning. Saul is a Fellow and past international president of the STC. You can contact Saul at saulcarliner@worldnet.att.net or visit his Web site at http://saulcarliner.home.att.net.

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