Project Closure

What is the Project Closure phase?

During this phase, any activities carried out are done to ensure the recording of project documents, archiving of organizational process assets, making final payments, releasing resources, and completing the project (Richards, 2021).

As well as the points outlined above, this phase of the project management life cycle allows the project manager to review and evaluate the project’s success, or failure, which can be important when it comes round to the planning and executing of successful future projects (Lucidchart, 2021).

Important steps to be carried out for a successful project closure

- Everything should be reviewed. The project manager can do this through asking themselves questions relating to the aim of the project, what they set out to do, whether or not they achieved all their aims. Other important points to reflect on are whether the stakeholders are happy with what the project achieved, whether the project met any requirements it may have had and if there were any modifications to the brief, and how that may have affected the expectations of the stakeholders (Rowland, 2019).

- The handing over stage may not always go as planned and being aware of the customers potential unwillingness to implement a change could lead to the project dragging on longer than originally expected. Therefore, it would be wise, at the time of signing off, to make a list of everyone that needs to be on board with the implementation process and make sure they are happy with it (Rowland, 2019).

- Receiving feedback and learning lessons from the project are very important points. This is generally where a project manager can take any constructive comments and turn them into strengths to build on next time around. The best way to achieve this is to have a conversation with stakeholders; a closing meeting to figure out how the project went and what can be taken away from it and implemented in future endeavors (Rowland, 2019).

References

Lucidchart, 2021. Get It Done: Nailing the Project Management Closure Process. [Online] Available at: https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/nailing-the-project-management-closure-process [Accessed 27 November 2021].

Richards, K., 2021. Project Closure Phase: 8 Steps of Closing Process Group. [Online] Available at: https://blog.masterofproject.com/project-closure-phase/ [Accessed 27 November 2021].

Rowland, M., 2019. How to manage project closure. [Online] Available at: https://www.apm.org.uk/blog/how-to-manage-project-closure/ [Accessed 28 November 2021].