Think that project’s done? Not so fast—there are a host of items that sometimes don’t make the formal punchlist, but they should. Below are some often-overlooked follow-up activities to consider adding to your task list.
1. End user training. An important but sometimes neglected issue, project management teams should take charge of making sure users know how to make the most of—and safely use—all the new goodies your project provided.
2. Documentation updates. Make current all manuals (maintenance, operation, procedural), asset sheets, license databases, regulatory information, building drawings, and anything else affected by your project.
3. Certification/validation of equipment, software, and processes. End users sometimes prefer to manage this responsibility themselves, but your project management consulting team should at least be aware of the need for post-project certification or validation. Confirm that resources are available and ready for use before considering the project complete.
4. User and stakeholder surveys. Solicit, evaluate, and respond to feedback while the project is still fresh.
5. Service agreement changes. Service agreements may need to be amended to cover changes made as part of your project. Evaluate existing agreements to see what needs updating.
6. Legal and accounting issues. Wind down project-related insurance policies, vendor contracts, price/work agreements, and all final invoicing. This leaves your organization and its vendors ready to begin the next project.
7. Project post-mortem. Your project management team deserves the opportunity to learn from and improve upon their performance, so consider post-mortems a top priority.
8. Documentation archival. The ability to locate and retrieve information at a later date will depend on today’s efforts.
9. Reassign staff. Work with your team to distribute their expertise among other active projects, or those in the pipeline.
10. Celebrate success. Reward your team’s efforts, and make a note of any outstanding achievements. Update individual personnel files as appropriate.
PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.
