How to Wrap Up a Project

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Sometimes the remaining tasks on a job are the boring ones: wrapping up the paperwork, assembling the files, writing the final reports. Many project managers hate to do them; they procrastinate. One reason this happens is that these wrap-up tasks are “off-schedule.” But don’t let them be. If they are part of making the project a complete success, make them tasks, put them in the schedule, and assign them to yourself. Sometimes the end of a project is difficult because initial expectations were unrealistic. Operating from an impossible plan and budget, some project managers paper over the problem rather than face the facts. When the inevitable crisis arrives, they put the project aside and stall disaster. If you’re going to be an outstanding project manager, make sure that you’re fully committed to the outcome. Do whatever it takes to keep your energy and focus high. Your mission is success. Success means completing the project.

Evaluate

Build a mechanism for evaluation into your project. Keep a project journal and record surprises, problems, and options. Hold a “lessons learned” meeting with the project team and brainstorm ideas for the future.

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Make sure that the evaluation step is proactive and positive rather than punitive. You don’t want to follow the traditional “6 Steps of the Project:” 1.Enthusiasm

2.Disillusionment

3.Panic 4.Search for the Guilty 5.Punishment for the Innocent 6.Praise for Nonparticipants A good evaluation is never aimed at fault-finding. Try the “likedbest/next-time” approach. Using this approach, you first focus on everything that went right and figure out how to replicate it on your next project. Only after you focus on the positive aspects do you proceed to the “next time” phase. Here you focus on how to make certain tasks even more successful in the future.

Of all the different techniques for gaining excellence and skill as a project manager, none is more important than evaluating every project you complete. You might want to reread this book after you finish your next project to see whether following the ideas more closely would have made a significant difference in that project. Identify skills you might need for the future. Develop an action plan for making yourself a better project manager next time.

Celebrate

Morale is an organizational asset. Take the time to glory in your success. Sit back and look at it. Learn to pat yourself on the back. Don’t overlook the importance of others who contributed to the project. Write letters of appreciation to outstanding team members. Say “thank you” in person. If appropriate, have a party or celebration.

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A little creativity goes a long way. At the end of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum project, team members were given a certificate that read, “Thank You For Your Significant Service in Opening the National Air and Space Museum.” On the bottom of the certificate was a square inch of dry-rotted fabric—it had been removed from the Spirit of St. Louis during refurbishing. You may not have a memento of that significance to share, but the basic principle works. In other words, examine the circumstances of your project. Is there any memento or souvenir that you can arrange for your team members? It need neither be expensive nor elaborate. It’s amazing how much morale you can buy with a little dry-rotted fabric. You’ll need many of your team members again in the future. People like being part of a winning team and having their success celebrated. Celebrating is a powerful tool for raising team morale and making your projects even stronger in the future.

Successful Project Managers

This book began by describing project managers as people who think like project managers. The tools and techniques shared in these pages are ingredients you’ll need to achieve, but the most important element is you. By understanding the tools and concepts, building on your strengths, and improving your creativity, you gain the power to succeed. “Doing it right” requires time and effort, but it’s cheaper than doing it over. No matter how hard you plan and anticipate, surprises, problems, and conflict are inevitable. Understanding the political agenda and the motivations of others is always a key. Your reward for managing an important project successfully is usually another project, even harder and more political than the last one. Whether you consider that a reward or not depends on whether you’re a real project manager. There have always been

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only three routes to career success: do what you love, learn to love what you do, or get the heck out. If you love project management or have simply learned to love project management’s results, then you will consider this a reward. If you don’t, try to avoid it in the future. There are lots of other opportunities in the world that don’t require these skills. Although the skills of project management take time and effort to hone and manage, that time and effort is richly repaid in easier, smoother, and higher quality projects. You can do it. Good luck.

Glossary

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actual cost of work performed (ACWP). Actual cost of performing the given task. budget control chart. A graph that shows cumulative project costs over the life of the project budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP). The “earned value”—a measure of the dollar value of the work actually performed to date. budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS). Original budget estimate for a given task. crash cost. The total cost of the resources necessary to achieve the crash time.

crash slope. It is actually two numbers. First, it’s the difference between the crash time and the normal time. Second, it’s the difference between the crash cost and the normal cost. There can be different points on the crash slope, because there can be different scenarios of resources versus time.

crash time. The fastest time in which a task can be accomplished given unlimited resources. critical path. The longest full path in a project. critical task. A task on the critical path. dependent task. A task that can’t begin until one or more predecessor tasks are complete. driver. The Triple Constraint that drives the project. If you fail to accomplish the driver, the project is a failure, regardless of how well you accomplish the other constraints. driving forces. Forces that support the solution. dummy task. The planning technique known as “activity-onarrow PERT” is an arrow that shows a dependency relationship between two otherwise parallel tasks.