How do you close out a project on time and budget?

In my experience, when closing out a software development project, we acknowledged the hard work and accomplishments of the project team, provided feedback to the project team on their performance regularly, measured the actual results of the project against the closure criteria and the baseline plan, compared and analyzed the performance of work in progress against the project plan, conducted lessons learned to identify areas for improvement and best practices, and transferred deliverables and knowledge to the appropriate stakeholders. Closing a project on time and budget requires careful planning, communication, and evaluation.

In my experience, we tend to start ICT projects prematurely and without proper Discovery and EA, which leads to scope creep and changes throughout the project adding to the cost / time blowouts. So, to close a project successfully - do the work upfront ??.

The best way to ensure a timely, within budget delivery is by starting out the project correctly. Scope agreement, input from the folks performing the work, documenting the plan and working with the team to identify the risks so they can be mitigated--covering these items early in the project makes for a more reliable delivery date and keeps costs under control.

In simple words, the project closure could depend on the below factors - Statement of Work (SoW) - SoW should express the 1. Scope 2. Efforts 3. Resources 4. Timeline - And then be agile to deliver MVP - Receive and adapt the timely feedbacks

Defining the the project scope and goals at the beginning of the project are vital tasks for the PM. Stakeholder’s and team members should know them by heart what the achievements will be with this project and it will help the PM to handover and close the project without miss understanding . Keeping schedule and budget permanently on the screen is essential work for the PM. The lesson learned meeting shouldn’t be skipped because it gives a good view how it was perceived from stakeholders and team members and allows a wider view from different angles in one meeting.

Reviewing project performance should be an ongoing process throughout the project life. That means that the monitoring and learning are staged in a timely manner and regularly reported. Project evaluation is better to take place at midterm and at the end of the project. As such, on reviewing project performance against the closure criteria, the team will not be starting from zero rather synthesizing and transforming the data reports into a final report to be shared with the staff and all stakeholders.

By closely monitoring tasks on the critical path and keep track of hours used within the project. This helps in identifying the impact of delays within a project; and establishing dependencies within a project. These are some of the way I use to close out a project on time and withing budget

Reviewing project performance is not only important at the end of the project, but even more important are the midterm reviews. By creating a project heartbeat with clearly set-out, structured & regular contact moments any changes in project parameters can be quickly and swiftly dealt with. One should start communication and review already within the first 10% of the project timeline. By creating a culture in which everyone can share mistakes, one avoids submarine behaviour and the 'us' vs 'them' feeling which often occurs at the end of project, when communication was not sufficient and trust was not there. Updates should be regularly given on scope, schedule, cost, risks.

The second step in project management is reviewing performance against closure criteria and the baseline plan. Measure actual results in scope, schedule, cost, quality, risk, and benefits. Identify any variances, issues, or changes and document them in a final report shared with the team and stakeholders. This assessment is a critical checkpoint for informed decision-making and project improvement.

Acknowledge hard work and accomplishments of the project team. Provide feedback to the project team on their performance regularly. Measure the actual results of the project against the closure criteria and the baseline plan. Compare and analyze the performance of work in progress against the project plan.

This is the step, of utmost importance, but unfortunately always given the last priority. Just imagine, what better than someone handing you a list of mistakes to avoid rather than you or your team making themselves and then learning from it? In my opinion, it is a very powerful tool and here are a few suggestions to make the best use of it. - Set-up a governance for LL reporting right in the kick off meeting. Decide frequency of reporting & review. - Don't treat it as a dump to be updated at the end of the project. You won't remember many things! - Encourage user engagement by creating awareness as well as creating user-friendly tools which are simple at the input level. - Analyze the data and make use of insights for project benefits.

The third step in effective project management involves conducting a valuable lessons learned session with your team and stakeholders. In this session, you have the chance to collectively reflect on the project experience, highlighting successes, failures, and areas for enhancement in future endeavors. Fostering open, honest feedback and constructive suggestions from all participants is crucial. To preserve these insights for future projects, it's essential to document the lessons learned in a report and store them in a readily accessible repository. This process ensures that valuable knowledge and experiences are leveraged to continually improve project outcomes.

Implement 'Starfish' scheme to clearly discuss the key lessons learned of your project. This worked super great within all my projects.

After implementing the project, follow up and monitor the performance is one important thing to do. Moreover, team is able to learn many thing in this project so, team members should be discuss together about what the obstacle is and how to solve it. This activity can be prepared in the next challenge

This session is even better when it is conducted following participants reviewing the drafts of the final evaluation report and the draft overall final report. The final reports will be much richer and beneficial when enriched by the lessons learned sessions/s.

In the fourth step of the project management process, it's vital to celebrate and acknowledge the remarkable achievements and invaluable contributions made by your team and stakeholders. Organizing a formal or informal event to express gratitude for their unwavering commitment, hard work, and collaborative efforts is essential. Offering positive feedback, recognition, and rewards not only for the final project outcome but also for the milestones achieved, challenges overcome, and lessons learned along the way is crucial. This celebration not only boosts morale but also fosters a culture of appreciation and motivation within the team, reinforcing their dedication to future endeavors.

Acknowledge the hard work and accomplishments of the project team. Provide feedback (feedforward) to the project team on their performance regularly. Host a small celebratory event to thank all who took part in the project. Acknowledge the entire team for their collective input and achieved result.

Rewards and recognition though crucial at project closure, is equally extremely important during the execution of the project as this helps to boost the morale of the team and makes them feel appreciated...it also fosters collaboration

I learned in the last years that celebration has to be planned in advance. One item on my task list for every project is to organize the celebratory event, e.g. a reception after a successful concert. It is too late to think about the celebration when you are tired at the end of the project.

Acknowledge in team members and all related stakeholders the success of project. Not only providing the outcomes but also sharing the lesson learned to everyone. Moreover, it's time to report to high management level the value from team members

Empower employees with a knowledge transfer plan to follow, which should outline when, where, and how to save information appropriately. Ensure that the knowledge transfer plan reflects the changes and growth of the knowledge within your company.

In the fifth and final step of the project management process, the focus shifts to the seamless transfer of deliverables and knowledge to the customer or end user. It's paramount to verify that the deliverables meet the closure criteria and align with customer requirements in terms of completeness, functionality, and compliance. Additionally, providing necessary documentation, training, support, and warranties is essential to empower the customer or end user in effectively using and maintaining the deliverables. This step culminates with obtaining formal sign-off or acceptance from the customer or end user, ensuring the project's successful handover and marking its completion.

Inform the related parties to transfer the task and set the schedule to train and to follow up staff to clarify every thing in project

Talking about resources, it's important to consider Retrospective Meetings, which also mark the closure of a project regardless of the approach used. They're a great way to bring the whole team together to see their big impact on the project. Also, it's important to reflect on the things we've learned and what we could do better for the future. It is very important to create a psychologically safe environment in which it is okay for the team to assume responsibility in a single and joint way instead of looking for specific culprits. The whole team can really see the retrospective as an opportunity to improve and learn for future iterations including about methodologies and work processes.

Project Closing is often considered a small or less important process group. However, if it is not performed or not performed properly, it can have significant negative impacts on the organization and project team. For example, continued liability for the organization, perceived negative credibility of PM and project team, non release of resources to their further use, and not learning lessons to benefit future projects. The article therefore should expliciltu highlight the need, importance and benefits of robust project closing. Closing a project on time, budget and quality is a good target but not always achieved - project closing done properlu can deliver even bigger benefits.

I feel there should be a space of recording the scope creep (generally comes under negetive category) and spike /innovation (generally comes under positive category) factor in closure criteria. It will help next generation team.

Post Implementation Reviews for complex projects should be part of the closure, its impact, and how the successes can be replicated and improvised across the units. All the documentation is properly organized and stored in a shared location.

Prioritize and resolve any outstanding issues. You should address any problems or conflicts that might prevent you from closing your project on time and budget, such as scope changes, quality issues, stakeholder feedback, or contractual obligations. You can use tools such as issue trackers, change orders, or risk registers to document and manage these issues and make sure all are resolved and signed on dotted lines before you close a project.

I am surprise that no one mentioned the word RISK (at the moment I read it), just the poster only one time. One of the biggest challenge in a project is to know how to solve a problem that moved the plan (actions that were mentioned above) and get in track again.