Much like the famous twelve step program used for dealing with substance abuse, a first step in addressing the issues that lead to project failure is a willingness to admit that a problem exists. Facing up to a mistake or being willing to take ownership for events that we feel reflect poorly upon us, is […]
Posts under ‘Retrospectives’
Rickety Retrospectives
In project management practice retrospectives are the feedback mechanism by which lessons learned are fed back into the organization’s collective body of knowledge. In principle it’s a good idea, in practice, the sad truth is that retrospectives often achieve very little. The acid test of an organization’s retrospective process is whether or not the lessons […]
The Cycle of Failure
After the firefights subside and a troubled project finally draws to a close, many organizations hold an inquiry into what went wrong. In theory retrospectives help identify root causes so that subsequent projects can avoid repeating the same mistakes. In practice, despite the reviews, many organizations find they lurch off of one troubled project and […]