Question

Discuss the activity that you feel is one of the most important that needs to be done as part of closing a project. What are the risks of skipping this activity? What is one crucial question that you could ask during a post-project evaluation and how could you use what you learn to improve the next project.

Answer 1

The most important activity as a part of closing a project is -

Ensure all the knowledge and content generated from the project is captured, stored and shared for future use.

The risks of skipping this activity include -

1. Future issues with the project specific to business processes will be hard to resolve without referring to the documentation.

2. Waste of time and effort in understanding the process and solution to identify the rootcause of the issue and resolve it.

Other important activities include -

1. End the project with an informal party to thank all the members who contributed to the success of the project.

2. Ensure all the deliverables are complete in terms of quantity and quality.

Below is one crucial question that could be asked during a post-project evaluation and how it can be used to improve the next project -

1. What are the key learnings from the project and what are the potential pitfalls/risks that might have been considered in future?

This helps in identifying risks upfront and designing mitigation plans for future projects.