B.9 Chapter 9 Review

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1. Why is the Postmortem Report necessary?

   The postmortem meeting and its corresponding report should provide an effective means to reflect on lessons learned and battles won. It should be used to improve on the process for future projects.

2. When closing out a project, what five actions must be completed by the Core Team?

   In order to properly end the program and terminate the activities supporting the product, you should complete the following five actions:

   1. Produce a written Software Project History containing both objective and subjective information about the project.

   2. Distribute the Project History to all project members.

   3. Place Project History conclusions into the project binder for review when working on the next project.

   4. Conduct a postmortem meeting and report the results and findings.

   5. Complete all closeout paperwork.

3. What good does a Postmortem Report serve to the SPMO?

   Through the answers to these questions, your organization may save a lot of money by learning to prevent things from negatively affecting project outcomes. This is also a time for the SPMO to reflect on the overall administration of the program and determine if changes are needed in administration or policy at the SPMO level.

4. What is the purpose continuing to restrict access to project materials after a project has been closed?

   Access to the archive CD and distribution of it to anyone in the company must be controlled to protect other sensitive corporate material, even if the project is closed. A lot of valuable corporate espionage information can be gleaned from the data comprising an entire project.

5. What is meant by the term shadow people?

   These are the folks who work behind the scenes to make the project work. Without them, there would be no chance for success, but they do not individually stand out within the Core Team or among other business leaders. They are always there and doing their part, however large or small. These folks are the backbone of the company in most cases, and your success— whether you know it or not—nearly always depends in large part on their performance.

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