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Showing posts from May, 2009

5 Ways to Kill a Post-Mortem

Software projects fail. One of the techniques you could apply to a project not going well is a post-mortem. A meeting where the critical participants meet to discuss what is going wrong. Preferably when there is still time to salvage things. But before you run a post-mortem of a project, here are some things you would want to consciously avoid. Hopefully as a project lead or in similar capacity, this will help you facilitate the meeting and shape positive outcomes. It starts with you.  The Final Blame-Game The idea of a post-mortem is to take an earnest look at some of the things that went wrong and understand why and how to avoid them. In brief, make mistakes, but please make new mistakes . If the meeting degenerates into blame-fixing, then you are headed in the wrong direction. Rule the meeting politely but iron glove. Don't let it become a mudslinging match. If you have been deeply involved in the project, chances are high that you would have your own frustr...