CHAPTER 14 - Project Closure

More and more companies are discarding the traditional superior-subordinate performance feedback process and replacing it with:

360 degree feedback

What is included in a project audit?

A review of why the project was selected and a reassessment of the project's role in organizational priorities

Aside from a normal project closure, what are the different type of project closures?

Changed priority, perpetual, premature, and failed.

________ offer a solution to the problem of turning lessons learned into actions with lesson owners.

retrospectives

In retrospective methodology, the facilitator use questionnaires to conduct post-project audits. What do they surveys focus on?

How the operations of the project were conducted and the organizational culture's impact on the project.

Lessons learned attempt to capture only positive project learning.

False

What are the advantages of asking the individual to evaluate to the project when conducting a performance review?

May yield additional information that the reviewing manager was not aware of, may provide an early warning for situations in which there is disparity in assessments, and reduces the judgement nature of the individual review discussion.

What are the major deliverables for project closure?

Project audit, performance evaluation and wrapping the project

In today's project driven organizations that have many projects occurring simultaneously, which of the following stakeholders share in the responsibility for completing project closure?

Project manager, project office, and project teams

Identify the two functions performance appraisals generally fulfill.

Provide a basis for compensation and provide a basis for individual development

Why should team performance evaluations include a measurement of customer and user satisfaction with project deliverables?

The team is responsible for the quality of the deliverables

Why set the conditions for transferring a project to the customer before the project even begins?

To enable the project team and customer to be on the same page

What is the primary purpose of the questions asked during the data collection and analysis portion of the audit?

To identify project problems and project success patterns

What final wrap-up activity allows stakeholders the opportunity to say good-bye?

a celebration

A retrospective review includes

an analysis of what went well, what needs improvement and the development of a follow-up action plan

The most important wrap-up task is to ensure the project is

approved and accepted by the customer

How should project managers of future projects utilize a past project's audit report?

as a training instrument

Regardless of the method, the project manager needs to sit down with each member and discuss their performance. Which of the following are general tips given in the text for conducting performance reviews?

be consistent and fair in your treatment of all team members, avoid when possible, drawing comparisons with other team members, always begin the process by asking the individual to evaluate their contributions to the project

How can a project manager avoid feelings of resentment when conducting individual reviews?

being consistent and fair in their treatment of all team members

_______ closure occurs when a project's rank erodes or crashes during its life cycle as organizational conditions change.

changed priority

________ are used extensively for wrap-up activities to ensure that tasks are not overlooked.

checklists

During a team member's evaluation, comparisons with other team members will tend to undermine

cohesion

The most common circumstance for project closure is simply a _______ project

completed

Project managers should _______ give team members' feedback throughout the project so individual team members can have a pretty good idea how well they have performed and how the manager feels before the formal meeting.

constantly

Vendor work invoices are often not submitted until after the project is officially over, which makes closing out _______ a challenge

contracts

The evaluation function of performance appraisals is intended to assess how well the person has performed in order to

determine salary or merit adjustments

Why is evaluation of team performance essential?

encourages changes in behavior, supports continuous improvement and supports individual career development

________ closure is often a result of circumstances beyond the control of the project team.

failed project

Organizations vary in the extent to which project managers are actively involved in the appraisal process of team members. In organizations where projects are managed within a _________ organization, the team member's area manager, not the project manager is responsible for assessing performance.

functional

Releasing the project team typically occurs _________ during the closure phase.

gradually during

A project audit is a post-audit review of

how successful the project was

The major goal of an audit report is to

improve how future projects are managed

What are the most important criteria when selecting a retrospective review facilitator?

independence and authority to report review results without fear of recrimination and perceived as impartial and fair

The purpose of a project maturity model is to enable organizations to

indicate progress in implementing best practices

A major challenge in project wrap-up is

keeping the team focused and motivated

_______ are often the single best information a project manager or team can use in planning a future project.

lessons learned

What tends to happen in organizations that do a poor job of managing project closure and review?

mistakes tend to be repeated

Audits are frequently viewed as ________ by project stakeholders

negative

An audit report should classify projects by characteristics such as

number of team members, project type, monetary size, and technology level

_______ projects are those which never seem to end, as constant add-ons delay completion.

perpetual

When a project is completed early with some parts of the project eliminated, this type of completion is known as _______ closure.

premature

In project closure, what is another name for a post-project review?

project audit

The purpose of ________ is to assess how well the project team, team members, and project manager performed.

project evaluation

In conducting a project audit, one important guideline is to focus on

project issues

What is the goal of individual team member appraisal and review?

reach an agreement as to how the individual can improve their performance

The _______ section of the final report typically includes technical items and solutions to problems that challenged the project.

recommendations

Organizations employ a wide range of methods to review individual performance on a project. In general, review methods of individual performance center on the _______ and ________ skills brought to the project and team.

social and technical

In performance reviews, if criticism needs to be given to an individual, it should be focused on

specific examples of behavior that affect project success

A typical mechanism for team evaluation is

survey

Why do postproject audits go beyond checking on project performance?

to verify whether the project delivered strategic benefits

Why has responsibility for project closure shifted from the project manager, to be shared among several stakeholders?

too many projects are occurring simultaneously in organizations