A project is not closed until is really closed. Seems easy to understand and apply but project may happen to derail even at very last stages.
Projects by their nature have a component of variability and risk that the method and experience can help to minimise. What every business shares though and which is generally on the critical path is the time factor.
Today we will explore how to evaluate the steps needed to bring a project to completion.
So try to evaluate the following:
A) What are the ingredients of your special recipe? What does it take to bring this project to a successful conclusion? Do it without limiting your thoughts and going through all the reflections, even the most trivial, which in some way have an impact on the result. Is not because you are approaching the finish line that things get easier.
B) Identify and plan the resources you need. What resources are needed (of all types: people, materials,..)? Are new resources needed? When making the assessment, consider not only the addition of the resource, but also the time it takes to get on board and be effective in the activities.
C) Don’t reinvent the wheel. You are approaching the conclusion so you have already gone through a lot of lessons and others may have been in same situation before you. Are there any lessons or practices learned from other projects that we can incorporate into our own? Again, the implementation effort must be commensurate with the time available
D) Leverage the human capital. Are there any skilled or talented human resources that we can bring in right now to move the project more quickly? Are there experts or experienced team members who can complete tasks faster than others?
E) If parallelisation worked before, could as well work now. What design elements can be still completed in parallel? We often think that tasks are necessarily sequential, when in reality we might be able to complete some tasks in parallel, also in the final rounds. The more you are able to reasonably do thing in parallel, the more buffer you create to regain lost time or to avoid last moment surprises.
F) When is really over? What should the complete project look like? Think quality and scope. Are we still within the original scope of the project, or was there some kind of deviation? Do you need to confirm your project requirements, testing any assumptions that may not be correct in these final stages?
G) Avoid distractions and keep focus. What can we do to minimise distractions and focus on what’s really important? Are there some tasks that need to be handed over from the project team so that they can concentrate 100% on the closing steps?
H) Think about the future. Every project is a learning, how can we formalise learning so as not to repeat the same considerations in the next project?
