Ace A Post Mortem: Day #2

A Post Mortem meeting is a forum in which everyone should feel free to speak their minds. This is where you can talk about the project and gain consensus about how to move forward more effectively. A Post Mortem meeting needs to be an environment in which all parties can participate equally.

Action #2: Participate

Going around the room or by opening the floor to the whole team, the meeting should follow the same outline as the report you have written. Openly discuss each of the sections of your reports one at a time. As each section is discussed, have one of the meeting participants capture the high points on a white board where everyone can see and discuss them.

Begin with What Went Wrong. Go around the room and have each person contribute at least one item to the list. Everyone in the meeting was involved in the project and unless the project went smoother than any other in history, each team member was affected by at least one less-than-perfect situation.

Talk about each one. Give a voice to what happened. This is the first step in your ability to move beyond the difficulties your project presented.

Talk about What Went Wrong. Get everyone’s input. This should be an open discussion, not a debate. The goal is for everyone to understand all of the issues even if they were not personally affected by each one. Strive to understand. You don’t all have to agree, but you must understand. Keep to the point and don’t let this discussion turn into a negativity session.

Once you have covered all that went wrong, move onto…What Went Right.

Again, one-by-one, present your observations about What Went Right. What about the project was positive? This can be more difficult for some people. If it is, help them along.

Be aware of what your team members contributed to the project. Maybe they are not fully aware of how the way they did their job made your job easier. Focus on all of the things, large or small, that helped the project succeed.

After you have all patted each other and yourselves on the back talking about all of the wonderful things that you did, wrap up this section and move on. Now it’s time to talk about What You Learned.

Every single team member should have at least two items they can talk about. What did they learn during the course of the project? This part of the meeting should be an enlightening discussion for all involved. It can be uplifting and educational when you gain an insight into the learning process of your teammates.

Talk about What You Learned. Explain to the rest of the team why each item was helpful to you. Talk about what you wanted to learn and were able to. Discuss how the learning occurred.

If you can discuss the learning process in this way with your whole team, it will help everyone understand better how they can improve. It will offer other horizons for your teammates to be aware of and other avenues that are available for them to pursue.

Talking openly about what each team member and the team as a whole learned during the project is a major step toward creating continual improvement. If you want to improve, you better understand what you have learned.

Once you have wrapped up discussing all that you learned, turn to how best you can now improve. In this portion of the meeting you will really get into the nitty-gritty of process improvement.