Project Management Closure: A Key Strategy For Future Success
The final step in an effective project management life cycle, often forgotten or neglected by project teams, is Project Closure. Let’s face it: few projects are executed without at least a few “hiccups” along the way. Project management can be more art than science in some instances; there isn’t always one “right” way to proceed through bottlenecks, budget miscalculations or out-of-scope considerations. One key to improving your project management processes is to close the project out by:
- A full review of the project life cycle with stakeholders
- Identifying refinements
- Auditing of project results
- Documenting lessons learned
- Closing out any contractual considerations
By following these steps, stakeholders can fully understand project successes and pitfalls, learn from potential mishaps (documented for future project managers) and, in general, bring a sense of closure and accomplishment to the project team. Project Closure is not only tactical but strategic in nature; the lessons learned and documented are critical for future project strategies and success. General wisdom suggests that history tends to repeat itself; by understanding past project pitfalls, future projects bear a greater chance of avoiding those same issues. Moreover, important lessons learned during the project’s life cycle should absolutely be shared with other project teams and stakeholders before the project is even fully executed.
