Plan and Manage Project/Phase Closures deals with finalizing all activities for the project, phase, or contract. Just like starting a project, we should have a plan for wrapping one up as well.
This entails looking back at what we said we would do, and making sure we did it.
2.17.1 Determine Criteria to Successfully Close the Project or Phase
Closures can commonly occur in three scenarios:
- Closing one phase of a project and moving onto the next phase
- The project runs its course and completes largely as planned
- The project is stopped due to a problem, lack of funds, or change in business case
Sometimes external factors might arise that impact the project viability or business case. These could include: a change in laws or regulations (e.g., Bitcoin mining deemed illegal in a country), a merger or acquisition that affects the organization (e.g., Kraft bean products after the Heinz acquisition), or global or national economic changes (e.g., the cruise and airline industries during COVID-19. ) Stuff happens outside of our control, and we need to deal with it.
Whatever the cause, we need to archive relevant information and confirm what planned work was completed. We might also need to release people to pursue new endeavors and close-out procurements.
2.17.2 Validate Readiness for Transition
Full ECO title: Validate readiness for transition (e.g., to operations team or next phase)
Acceptance criteria
Acceptance criteria are the set of conditions required before deliverables are accepted. They may have been set at the beginning of the project (as requirements, performance goals, quality measures) and then, potentially, modified during the project. Deliverables that meet the acceptance criteria are typically signed-off and approved by a customer-representative or sponsor.
User Stories and Definition of Done
Agile teams typically develop the acceptance criteria for a user story as they outline their understanding of what is required. Back in the old days, when user stories were written on cards, the front of the card contained the story, and the back of the card contained the acceptance criteria.
Agile teams also develop a Definition of Done in collaboration with the Product Owner to help ensure acceptance criteria is considered before declaring a piece of work as Done. The Definition of Done for a software project might include:
- All unit tests pass
- The code has been reviewed
- Refactoring is complete
- Functional tests passed
- Acceptance and regression tests pass
- Non-Functional requirements met
- The code is documented
- The Product Owner has reviewed and accepted the User Story
Preparing for Transition
Before we hand over any new product or service, it is smart to prepare the receiving group for what will be arriving. This helps reduce the likelihood of surprise, confusion, or push-back. An important role for a project manager is to anticipate potential issues and help reduce or remove them. Think of it as greasing the tracks ahead of the change to help things go more smoothly, with less friction.
This includes considering the customers/clients as well as any support/sustainment groups. Having proper coordination and strategy for transition increases usage and adoption of project outputs. Preparation deliverables will likely include:
- Communications
- Documentation
- Training
- Support
2.17.3 Conclude Activities to Close Out Project or Phase
Full ECO title: Conclude activities to close out project or phase (e.g., final lessons learned, retrospective, procurement, financials, resources)
When closing a project, the project manager should review the project management plan to ensure that all project work is completed. Also, to check that the project has met its objectives. This consists of the activities necessary for the administrative closure of the project or phase. Items to check include:
- Confirming the delivery and formal acceptance of any deliverables by the customer or sponsor
- Documents and deliverables are up-to-date and that all necessary issues are resolved
- Ensuring that all costs (including any that are delayed) are charged to the project
- Closing project accounts
- Reassigning project team members
- Dealing with any excess project materials
- Reallocating project facilities, equipment, and other resources
- All procurement/contractual agreements are closed
- Storing information for future use
We will examine these last two major categories of procurement agreements and knowledge transfer in more detail.
Closing out Procurement and Payments
Closing out procurements can happen at any time throughout a project when work or services are complete. However, any open contracts and payments should be settled when the project ends.
We need to ensure payments made to a supplier or vendor meet the terms of the contract. (For instance, are paid within the Net-30, or Net-90-day agreements, as specified.) Formally closing out procurements and contracts also reduces the likelihood of our organization receiving invoices and charges after the project has completed.
Knowledge Management
As reviewed in task 2.16 Ensure Knowledge Transfer for Project Continuity, project managers should ensure information that could be helpful for the team, PMO or organization is gathered, analyzed and stored appropriately.
This includes running Lessons Learned sessions with the team and other relevant stakeholders. The outputs (lessons learned) should be stored in the project Lessons-Learned Register that may get rolled up into a department or organizational Lessons-Learned Repository, as shown below.
Retrospectives
Teams using agile approaches will likely be utilizing more frequently scheduled retrospectives rather than lessons-learned reviews. However, retrospectives capture similar reviews of
- What went well
- What could have been done better
- Suggestions for improvements relating to people, process and tools
Tips for Closing a Project or Phase
When closing a project or phase, start with the project management plan and compare what has been done with what was planned to be done. Ask did we complete everything? Has it been formally approved and signed-off?
Make sure we release team members and set them up for success going forward. Remember to schedule and plan any team recognition events before you close your accounts and return any unused funds. Update the talent pool database to show new skills gained and increased levels of proficiency. Recognizing and looking after people is important, you never know where they will end up and if we may work with them in the future.
Document the final state of plans, checklists and logs. Even a simple entry to record “<Date> document updated with final information prior to project closure.” can prevent future readers from having to guess if this is the correct/completed version of a document.
Check with your PMO to see if they have a project termination/closure checklist. Obtain project approval and formal project acceptance. Archive a complete set of project documents and records
Reflect
Finally, take some time to personally reflect on the project. Ask if the organization sponsoring the work got, or will get, the outcomes they hoped for when kicking off the project? How did elements such as the people, process and tools work out?
Projects can be an emotional roller-coaster ride. Some days we are up making great progress, others we are down, mired in problems. This is part of what makes project management a fulfilling career. What would you change looking back? How can we be wiser and better prepared for the future?
Deliverables and Tools
- Definition of Done
- Acceptance Criteria
- Validate work
- Lessons Learned Register
- Lessons Learned Repository
Related Topics
- 1.9 Collaborate with stakeholders
- 2.1 Execute project with the urgency required to deliver business value
- 2.2 Manage communications
- 2.4 Engage stakeholders
- 2.5 Plan and manage budget and resources
- 2.11 Plan and manage procurement
- 2.16 Ensure knowledge transfer for project continuity
- 3.1 Plan and manage project compliance
- 3.2 Evaluate and deliver project benefits and value
Further Reading
- Article: Project Closing
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