Projects are temporary, by their very nature. That means all of us are going to have to close down our projects. But this is part of project management that is too often neglected. So what are we actually trying to achieve?

When a project approaches the end of its work (or when a decision is made that it should be ended early) we need to begin preparing to close it down. The basic idea is that every project, and the business, benefits from having a controlled and organised shut down.

By this point, the project will have delivered on its objectives. The products that were supposed to be produced should be finished, and ready to go. The aims of the project should have been met.

This means we need to:

• Confirm we have actually met the project’s objectives
• Alert those areas we drew resource from that their people are coming back
• Formally hand the product over to the business (or whoever is using it)
• Set out any follow-on actions to be carried out by the business after the project is complete (e.g. measure the benefits after a period of time to see if they meet expectations)
• Get confirmation from the Executive that the project can finish
• Archive the project documents

I also like to make sure the team as a whole gets together and identifies any lessons the business can learn from the project – what went well, what didn’t, and so on.

That’s a quick look at project closure – what else do you do? Do you have a formal closure at all, or do you just turn out the lights as you leave? Let me know!