12. Review: learn and praise

• The only time you, the team, and the organisation can learn
• Meet as a group, with a flip-chart
• Project Manager does not do the writing, but sits in the group
• What was good, that we would want to repeat and to tell others to do in similar projects?
• What was not so good, that we could advise others to avoid
• What could we have done even better, knowing what we now know?
• Document the above and keep all the reviews in one place – on the intranet, or in a file where each project has just one side of A4 for its review
• Requires a no-blame culture and honest “owning up”
• Requires finding the time (and maybe a number to book it to) even for projects which are overspent – in fact especially for those!
• Categories which might be useful to consider during the review: were sufficient resources available? was the customer happy or not (and why?), quality of the original proposal / initiation document, contractor relations and performance, and any opportunities for future work.
• You might also review the performance of team members with them and/or with their line manager – significant achievements, areas of strength, and areas for development.
• An opportunity to thank the team, perhaps even celebrate completion of the project – maybe you could all go and have a pizza or a curry?