Post-mortem = retrospective at project end. Captures what worked, what didn't, lessons for next time.
When to do:
- End of project — major retrospective.
- End of major phase — phase retrospective; smaller scope.
- After significant incidents — surge retrospective.
Format:
1. Schedule for 1.5-2 hours. Smaller for phase retros; longer for full-project.
2. Invite everyone involved. Project team, key stakeholders, sponsors. Mix internal and client.
3. Set ground rules.
- Blameless — focus on systems and processes, not individuals.
- Honest — uncomfortable truths welcome.
- Forward-looking — not just "this was bad" but "what would we do differently".
- Confidential — what's said in the room stays in the room (with non-confidential outputs documented).
4. Structure the discussion:
Stage 1: Recap. Brief summary of project, what was delivered, what wasn't.
Stage 2: What went well. Start positive. Concrete examples.
Stage 3: What went poorly. Be specific. Process / tooling / communication / resourcing.
Stage 4: What surprised us. Things we didn't expect, positive or negative.
Stage 5: What would we do differently? Concrete actions. Avoid vague "communicate better".
Stage 6: What's our lessons-learned? Generalisable insights for future projects.
6. Capture in writing.
- Document discussion. Action items with owners.
- Share with broader org — others learn from this project's lessons.
- Add to organisational knowledge base.
7. Follow up.
- Action items get assigned and tracked.
- Lessons make it into the next project's plan.
- Without follow-through, post-mortems become rituals without value.
Common pitfalls:
- Defensive participants — turning into blame-fest. Ground rules matter.
- Vague conclusions — "communicate better" not actionable. Push for specifics.
- No follow-up — discussion happens, nothing changes for next project.
- Skipping post-mortem because "we don't have time" — loses learning permanently.
- Only doing post-mortem for failures — successes also have lessons; do them for completed projects too.
Senior consultant move: lead post-mortems even when not formally required. Schedule for the team. Push past politeness into honest discussion. Document. Distribute. Make sure the next project starts smarter than the last.
A consulting firm's competitive advantage is the lessons it has learned across hundreds of projects. Post-mortems are how those lessons accumulate.