Post Mortem

A post mortem refers to a retrospective analysis or discussion conducted at the conclusion of a project or after an event has occurred. Its primary goal is to evaluate and understand the successes and failures of the project or event. Participants discuss what went well, what could have been improved, and lessons learned. This process helps teams identify best practices for future endeavors and pinpoint areas for improvement. By examining both the positive and negative aspects of the project's lifecycle, teams can prevent repeated mistakes and continuously refine their processes.

Post mortem and the "5 Whys" methodology are both analytical tools used to understand failures or problems. A post mortem is a retrospective analysis conducted after a project or event has concluded to determine what went well and what went wrong. It aims to identify learnings and improvements for future endeavors. On the other hand, the "5 Whys" methodology is a root cause analysis tool that asks "why?" five times (or as many times as needed) to drill down into the source of a specific problem. Instead of a broad overview, it seeks to understand the fundamental cause of a single issue, ensuring the same mistake isn't repeated.

objectives

• find the root of the problem
• set mechanisms to avoid happening again
• accept the failure and not blame the final responsible
• generate a report of what has happened.

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Guideline

Preparation

• Schedule the meeting: Ensure that all key stakeholders can attend.
• Gather data: Before the meeting, collect all relevant data and statistics related to the project or event.
• Set the ground rules: Make it clear that the post-mortem is a blame-free environment. This is about learning and growing, not pointing fingers.

Begin the Meeting

• State the objective: Remind participants that the goal is to learn and improve.
• Review the project: Briefly go over the goals, timelines, and key metrics of the project.

Discuss What Went Well

• Successes: Identify all the things that went according to plan or exceeded expectations.
• Contributing factors: Discuss why these aspects of the project were successful.

Discuss what didn't go well

• Challenges: Identify the obstacles and problems that arose during the project.
• Root causes: Delve into why these challenges occurred. Was it due to inadequate resources, miscommunication, technical failures, etc.?

Recommendations for Improvement

• Solutions: For each problem identified, discuss potential solutions or changes that can prevent it in the future.
• New processes: Identify any processes or methods that can be introduced to improve future projects.

Action Items

• Assign responsibility: For each recommendation, assign a responsible person or team to take it forward.
• Set deadlines: Establish a timeline for when the recommendations should be implemented.

Feedback on the Post-Mortem Process

Ask participants for feedback on the post-mortem process itself. Is there anything that can be improved for next time?

Documentation

• Compile findings: Document everything discussed during the post-mortem, including successes, challenges, recommendations, and action items.
• Distribute: Share the post-mortem report with all stakeholders, and consider storing it in a central location where team members can refer to it in the future.

Follow up

• Monitor implementation: Ensure that the recommended action items are being implemented.
• Check-in: A few weeks or months down the line, revisit the action items to see if they've had the desired impact.