Learning from a Project "Post-mortem"

      By no means am I professional in this field, however, when presented with any opportunity to enhance and gain experience in the instructional design field, I eagerly participate. About two years ago I worked for a small business that managed HVAC systems across the country, and the need was realized for the creation of an inter-departmental training manual to act as a cross training employee resource during the off-peak seasons. Not only did I have to create step-by-step processes for my department, but I also had to compile the processes from all other departments and format it into one complete document. The primary objective of this project was to make a reference manual that employees can consult in the event a key player or manager of another was indisposed during weekend work hours.

     Prior to the manual being created, once a new hire was assigned to a specific department, they were trained in that area only without knowing the jobs and responsibilities of any other department; despite this company being classified as a small business. The major issue this posed was if an individual was scheduled to work on either the weekend or after normal business hours (typically after 5 p.m.), if a maintenance emergency occurred; such as an indisposed contractor in a sparsely populated area, the individual on duty did not know how to search computer systems for alternatives or the procedures for hiring and approving rates for a temporary contractor.

      Because the owners of the company recognized a need for cross-training, especially during off-peak seasons, the initial project would entail the creation of a manual by the Vendor Management Department, followed by mini training sessions over a period of six months.  Being one of the main contract writers in the Vendor Management Department, myself along with five other employees were tasked with gathering information from the various departments, consulting with department leads on the accuracy of content gathered, and ensuring that all information was up-to-date and relevant with any system updates. While this was a very informal project that did not follow any standard processes, I believe I was chosen for this task because of my experience with creating and editing contracts that the company currently uses.

Successes

Establishment of a time line

      From the onset, all stakeholders involved agreed that the manual had to be completed within a certain time frame and the approval and upload of the manual into the company’s server has to launch after three weeks of starting the project. The established time line helped everyone stay on task and complete individual portions according to schedule. Each person was held accountable for their portion of the project and the component they had to complete. Because the time line was adhered to, it prompted the company’s owners to approve the final draft of the manual and make plans for the establishment of an instructor led cross-training course.

Failures

Lack of Team Formation and Role Assignments

      One of the major components that lacked in this project was the formation of a team and a creation of a task list. My mission was solely to compile a document within a time frame, in addition to performing my daily tasks associated with my position. Even though I had a supervisor assigned to complete the manual with me, we always butt heads because superficial design struggles rather than focusing on the content. The lack of a team also fueled individual competition which only added to the constant butting of heads that occurred frequently. Another component that contributed to the partial failure of this project was the lack of assigned roles. With no definitive roles for the project, the term “too many chiefs” applied throughout the project. With no specified leader, everyone saw themselves as the boss, and ultimately wanted their way to be the final say. The lack of role assignments often caused overlapping roles and often times double work being done.

      Portny et. al (2008), outlined five life cycle phases of a project: conceive, define, start, perform, and close of planning a project and to be honest only two of those phases were completed. Given the knowledge I know now, I believe if I had access to these resources, the project would have been more organized and completed without minor issues. The only thing that contributed to this project’s success was a collective determination to complete the document by the given deadline. If I could do it over again, each cycle of planning a project would be followed thoroughly employing all of the strategies suggested.

Reference:
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S, J., Meredith, J, R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., and Kramer, B. E. (2008). Planning projects: Preparing, executing, and completing successful projects. In Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects (pp. 76). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.