Learning from a Project Post-Mortem

     Shortly before I became an ID at the company I work for currently, they decided to take on the task of writing their own curriculum series. The plan was to create workbooks, instructor guides, and digital content for blended courses they could sell as well as run within their charter school. They decided to develop courses for the four main subjects – Social Studies, Science, ELA, and Math – for Grades 1-6 before diving into the production of Middle and High School courses. When it came time to develop the elementary Math courses, the stakeholders had a very specific vision in mind for how they wanted the Math courses to be laid out and written. They hired a brand new PM and had communicated the vision to the PM many times to ensure she understood the needs and vision of the Math courses. As an ID, part of my role consisted of overseeing the Grade 3 contracted writers/SMEs and coaching them in our vision for the Math course as they developed the lessons. Unfortunately, the PM did not fully grasp the vision of the project. Additionally, she had not communicated well with the IDs on our team about the project’s start date, as the contracted writers/SMEs had been working for weeks without our assistance or oversight. By the time we discovered the writing had been in the works for weeks and that the lessons were not developed according to the specified vision of the stakeholders, the project was paused, major rework and new directives were made, and all contracted writers/SMEs were informed that they would have to rewrite or rework all the lessons they had previously written. (Of course, they would get paid for all their initial work and rework, but you can imagine the frustration.) As you can imagine, my fellow IDs and I were feeling defeated by the amount of rework required, overwhelmed by the already tight timeline, and were trying to figure out how we could console and guide our contracted writers/SMEs through this transition as many of them were confused, frustrated, and already set in a mindset of how the project was supposed to developed.

     There were many factors that contributed to this project’s failed start. For the sake of this post, I will list three of these factors:

1. Lack of a clear vision of the project. It is a no-brainer: PMs need to have a clear understanding of the project’s vision in order to lead the project. The project’s vision is what directs and guides the project to its specified outcomes and goals (Curry, 2023). If they don’t understand the vision, no one else on the project will either. Sometimes, this confusion can come from a misunderstanding or miscommunication on the stakeholder’s end. Dr. Achong (Walden University, LLC, n.d.) says this is common when there are more than one stakeholder, so it is the project manager’s duty to probe and ask questions to ensure they fully understand the project’s vision.
2. Lack of clear project management tracking. When you have been on projects that use and do not use project management software, it is clear right away: the use – and the correct use – of project management software makes a project 10,000 times more efficient. Not only does project management software make it easy to organize all your project’s data in one place but it also allows for better budget and resource management (Aston, n.d.). If not most importantly, it is a space that allows for easy and effortless communication with all members on a project. Although we use ClickUp as our project management software, it was not being used correctly to communicate project details. It should be a high-priority of PMs to keep project management tracking up-to-date to ensure clarity for both themselves and others.
3. Lack of communication. We all know it: communication is key. This fact also applies to projects. As we have seen and learned from our resources the past two weeks, one of the PMs primary roles is to ensure effective communication is made to all members of the project throughout the project’s duration (Walden University, LLC, n.d.). Studies have found the amount of communication a PM has at the start and throughout the project greatly impacts the end results of the project. For example, poor communication at the start of a project can result in greater negative impacts towards the end of the project (Rajkumar, 2010). Very little communication was happening at the beginning of this project, and negative impacts were already occurring only a few weeks in. Of all the top priorities or skills of a PM, communication is one of the most important of them all.

     In looking back at this project, there are several parts of the project management process that could have been included to make the project more successful.

1. Project charter. As mentioned previously, the PM was brand new to her role and to the world of project management. Unfortunately, this meant several items got overlooked in the process. One oversight was not developing a project charter. As we learned last week, a project charter explains the expectations, factors, and criteria of a project in clear terms – several of these components in which define the problem, goal, and vision of the project (Webster, 2023). If a project charter had been developed, it may have helped the PM and others members of the project have a better understanding of the project’s vision.
2. Communication plan. Although often overlooked, developing a communication plan is an essential part of the PMs duties when starting a project. Because communication is a critical factor the project’s success or failure, a PM should construct a communication plan. Some items that may be included in a communication plan include the method or platform for communication, the frequency of communication, and a description or expectation of each form of communication (Lavallee, 2023). If you have never seen an example of a communication plan before or want to learn more about how you can create a communication plan, I highly advise you check out this resource.
3. Project management software. I know I mentioned this factor in the section above, but it is worth mentioning again here. Even though we had project management software to use, it was not used correctly or well. Many processes that occur within the PM process – such as work breakdown, status and tracking, managing project resources, monitoring progress, and more – can be done effectively with the proper use of project management software. If you are ever in a PM role, be sure to choose a project management software that helps you meet the goals of the project at hand. It will be a life-saver!

Are you curious about what happened in the long run with this project? Right before the second kickoff of the Math courses began a month after the work was paused, the PM quit suddenly and without notice. A few of us IDs had to help cover parts of the PM role and get the project set up in our project management software while we were working on the project and also while we were covering our own roles and duties until a new PM was trained and in place. Although the project’s start was frustrating and avoidable, we worked hard to make sure the new timeline, budget, and content were not affected in any way. It was a rough start, but we were proud of the end results because of the hard work we put in to make sure the project’s start did not affect its end product.

References

Aston, B. (n.d.). 8 project management software benefits: Why use it?. The Digital Project Manager.      

     https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com/projects/why-use-project-management-software-benefits/

Curry, C. (2023, January 4). Project Vision and mission. RMC Learning Solutions.     

     https://rmcls.com/project-vision-and-mission/

Lavallee, L. (2023, February 2). The importance of a communication plan in project management.    

     Southern New Hampshire University. https://www.snhu.edu/about- 

     us/newsroom/business/communication-plan-in-project-management

Rajkumar, S. (2010, July 14). Art of communication in project management. Project Management 

     Institute. https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/effective-communication-better-project-

     management-6480

Walden University, LLC. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Practitioner voices: Barriers to project 

     success [Video file]. Retrieved from https://waldenu.instructure.com

Walden University, LLC. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Project management and instructional 

     design [Video file]. Retrieved from https://waldenu.instructure.com

Webster, W. (2023, May 4). What is a project charter?: Complete guide & template 2023. 

     Project-Management.com. https://project-management.com/what-is-a-project-charter/