How to carry out a Post-Mortem
A four step guide to carry out a Post-Mortem.
A four step guide to carry out a Post-Mortem.
SubscribeWhat is a Post-Mortem?A Post-Mortem is a meeting conducted at the end of a project to determine what worked, what could be improved and what should not happen again.
Step One: Schedule the Meeting
Schedule one or more meetings with the team that executed the initiative.
It may be in your interest to separate the post-mortem into various meetings that separate functions such as business, management and development.
You may also wish to hold a post-mortem between leadership and the client.
Step Two: Prepare the Participants
Send out an email to the participants of the meeting asking them to come with 3-5 points for the following questions:
- What went well?
- What could have gone better?
- What should never happen again?
Additionally, ask the participants to rate their performance using Andy Grove's OKRs/CFRs system:
0.7 - 1 = Green* (We delivered)
0.4 - 0.6 = Yellow (We made progress, but fell short of completion.)
0.0 - 0.3 = Red (we failed to make real progress.)
* Google’s floor of 0.7 for successful attainment reflects the high ambition of their “stretch” goals. This threshold does not apply to the company’s committed operational goals. For sales targets or product releases, any score under 1.0 would be deemed failure.
Step Three: Hold the Post-Mortem
Hold the meeting(s) and make sure to take notes as you go around one-by-one, hearing and discussing answers to the questions and ratings.
To avoid things going off-track, if anything comes up that requires a larger conversation, take a note and state that it will be discussed at the end.
At the end, discuss the larger conversations - unless they should be held as break-out sessions with a reduced portion of the participants.
Step Four: Send out an E-Mail
Use the notes taken in Step Three to send out an email elaborating on the discussions and outcomes of the post-mortem.
This e-mail is intended to boost performance, efficiency and moral whilst also paying attention to things that have to change.
Be kind and motivational.
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