Project Team and Staff Post-Mortem Questionnaire

How did corporate performance reviews and individual development planning programs
impact your project? This questionnaire will allow you to analyze these processes,
develop conclusions and make recommendations.

Purpose

This template is designed to assist the project manager during project post-mortem
activities to analyze, in a general way, the effectiveness of team work and management
in the project. The template is to be used as the basis for surveys and discussions to
develop conclusions and make recommendations.

Instructions

There are two sections. Answer the questions in the first section to compile a complete
list of issues and opportunities for improvement. Use the questions in the second section
to develop conclusions and recommendations for post mortem/lessons learned
documentation.

1. Determine how to gather the Identifying Opportunities for Improvement data by

either:

a. Discussion as usual in post-mortem or

b. Via a survey to all employees and managers in the project (coordinated with a
corporate human resource development group, organization development group,
and/or a training & development group.)

2. Facilitate a meeting of appropriate parties, using the first set of questions to collect a
precise list of actual opportunities for improvement. Do not spend much time
attempting to identify causes at this time.

3. Once a complete list of problems has been compiled, present these to the group and
ask the Developing Conclusions and Recommendations questions in order.

4. List recommendations and conclusions and ensure the group agrees to the final
version.

5. Rewrite problems and recommendations in submittal format (in positive tone) for the
post mortem process.
ProjectManagement.com Project Team and Staff Post-Mortem Questionnaire

Identifying Opportunities for Improvement in Project Team and Staff Management

Were the following components of team and staff management adequate? What were
strengths and weaknesses?

Training & development

Project orientation
Succession planning and/or mentoring
Career development planning
Recruiting & selection
Individual development planning
Employee performance evaluations
Coaching and on-the-job training (including knowledge management and electronic
performance support systems)
Performance feedback mechanisms, project performance goal-setting

Were the workflows (processes, procedures, etc.) that individuals and teams utilized
optimized for the project?

Were there conflicts between corporate workforce management programs and project
needs?

Were adequate criteria set up to measure success of team and staff management?

Were metrics defined, tracked and communicated regarding team and staff management?
(Examples: turnover rates, output data, quality data, schedule data)

Were project goals used to measure worker or team performance?

Was the kick-off meeting effective in setting up a success culture?

Were corporate values communicated throughout the life of the project? Were they reinforced
by the company? By the leaders walking the talk?

Were issues logged and tracked which had to do with team and staff management? If so,
what were these?

Were these issues generally handled as well as technical issues? If not, why not?

Were supervisors, managers and/or leaders prepared for their roles?

Was there enough support provided by Quality, Human Resources and other support groups
to manage the workforce effectively? If not, what inadequacies experienced?

Were the procedures for handing HR information (data, reports, files, progressive discipline
documentation) clear? Were they communicated? If so, were they used?

Did any corporate human resource management functions, processes, or programs conflict
with the needs of the project?

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ProjectManagement.com Project Team and Staff Post-Mortem Questionnaire

Developing Conclusions and Recommendations

What were the causes of any problems noted? Did any causes result in multiple problems?

Where in any programs or processes does it appear that these problems developed?

Where in the project management process does it appear that these problems develop?

Which individual or department will need to address the issue in the process?

What are recommendations to the departments/organizations responsible for those

activities?

What are the highest priority opportunities for improvement (those that are urgent and will
garner the greatest benefits to the company and subsequent projects)?

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