Discuss ways in which the lesson is learned workshop should be run to minimize these types of reactions. Should these problems be brought up in large, open discussions or just in small groups? List and explain the types of processes that should be put in place to make sure the system requirements are defined and understood correctly by both the subject matter experts and the IT staff.

Chapter 13 - Project Closure 419 MINICASE 1. Background: (Review the R&S case study material at the beginning of this chapter.) The first hour of the R & S lessons learned workshop has gone extremely well, with minor comments ware deliverable issues, the first highlighted item is the problem encountered with the first as each major topic area has been explored. When the review comes to the topic of key soft- iteration of the inventory reporting software application. The firm hired to write the appli- cation was not told about the need to consolidate inventory from multiple bins within the main West Lafayette location, nor was it told to consolidate inventory from all three other warehouses so management could get a complete picture of current inventory levels. The oversight in the development of the requirements ended up causing many hours of rework and increased the cost for the project substantially. Current Situation 1: When this discussion comes up, Kenny Jones, R&S warehouse manager, gets very defensive because he was in charge of this part of the application. Kenny was the key user working with the software development company to define the requirements for the inventory control module. Jeff Dunbar from PPMS tries to assure Kenny that this is not a blaming session but an attempt to learn for future projects. Kenny continues to be very upset and raises his voice, saying that he has never done anything like this before and can't be blamed. Discussion: Discuss ways in which the lessons learned workshop should be run to minimize these types of reactions. Should these problems be brought up in large, open discussions or just in small groups? List and explain the types of processes that should be put in place to make sure the system requirements are defined and understood correctly by both the subject matter experts and the IT staff. Current Situation 2: At the end of the lessons learned session, Kevin Pullen from PPMS puts up the last slide, which displays the final project results for scope, time, and cost. The scope was delivered 100 percent, the cost ended up 15 percent over budget, and the completion date was 5 percent past the original deadline. Discussion: Was this a successful project? Why or why not? What factors determine the su cess or failure of a project? Put yourself in the place of each of the major stakeholders (Reid Lewis, Diana Brooks, and Mark Lewis from R&S; Jeff Dunbar and Kevin Pullen from PPMS, COMPTEC, the vendor selected to supply computers; and the software company selected to build the custom software) and state, from that person's perspective, whether the project was a success. THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHRONICLES R & S Amusements Services Event 13 Setting The project has been completed, just 16 months after it started. The management team has convened in a small conference room located outside Reid Lewis's office at R&S Amusements. Those in attendance include Reid Lewis, Diana Brooks, Mark Lewis, Mike Lewis, Foster Hines, Elaine Henry, and Heidi Cosgray from R & S and Jeff Dunbar and Kevin Pullen from Premier Project Management Services. JEFF Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend this final project status meeting, as outlined in our communication plan. It has been a fun and exciting project. Here is the agenda for today's meeting: VINAR The following bullets are displayed on an overhead projector) Review of the project closeout checklist Final signoff on the asset tracking software implementation and the Premier Project Management Services contract Review of the final project report Lessons learned workshop Kevin Let me start off by saying what a great job everyone has done on this proj- ect. I wish we always had such dedicated and committed people to work with. REID Well, I think I speak for all of us in saying thanks and the feeling is mutual. You two have done a great job in getting this project completed success- fully. And most of the time I understood what you were talking about... (Laughing But when we haven't understood exactly what was going on or what was next, you two have been very patient with us and did a great job of thoroughly explaining everything. So what next, now that everything is in place and operating? JEFF Well, we have just a couple items to finalize and then Kevin and I will leave you alone to do your jobs. We need two documents signed from the team. One is for the final project deliverables and the other is to officially end the contract with Premier Project Management Services. 403 -4 . Project Closeout Methods and Advanced Topics Heidi Everything is done and working, and we are using the software and the new computers, so I guess everything is done. Why do we need to sign anything? JEFF It is a good practice to get a final deliverable signoff that all has been delivered for the project . Then, after we get the signatures on the completion documents, we would like to conduct one final activitya postmortem" review of the project. DIANA What is that? It sounds awful. JEFF Sorry about the "project speak" again. Postmortem is a way of looking at lessons learned. We will conduct an organized brainstorming workshop, with everyone's input, to review the highlights of the project. KEVIN We will highlight the key things that went well and those that didn't go quite as planned Heidi You mean like the software not automatically displaying the best route for the driv- ers but making them click that button before it displayed? KEVIN Yes, exactly. We have recorded all the events to review in the project management database and will be bringing up some of the highlights on the screen, one area at a time--for example, technology and then each key part of the software. DIANA Sounds like we could be here for a while. JEFF Not really. We don't plan to spend much more than a couple hours at the most. We just want to review what we did well and note those things that could be improved for future projects. This will help us (Kevin and me) as well as help you the next time you execute a project. Kevin Well, if everyone is ready, we can get the documents signed and get the lessons learned workshop under way... (This concludes the project and the case study.) (The details of conducting the lessons learned session are covered later in the chapter.) a