Learning From A Project “Post-mortem”

In October 2007, I became the sole Production Manager, for my agency; therefore my workload more than double. In 2007-2008 I produced more than 25 publications -- most of the publications were 4-color process and some were over 400 pages and a budget of over $800,000.

I learned from one project in particular, of the many projects, I had on my plate. The Latino Manual and Picture Cards was an exciting and challenging project. One because it was bi-lingual and two it was someone else project and I had to take over the project after the Project Manager left the agency and moved on to another job.

I had a press inspection schedule this publication, a day before I had to leave for a two-week trip out of the country. I thought the press inspection went well. I found out after returning to the office and sharing the color proofs with the Project Team Leader that the press inspection had not gone well. The colors were wrong and the Project Team Leader was very upset; although she had signed off on the color proof the day before the press inspection, she was very unset with the proofs from the press inspection. I had to fix the problem ASAP. I ran to my office and called the printer and stopped the press! We had an emergency meeting and conference call with all the stakeholders. The job had to be put on hold until I returned to the office.

What made this project a little frustrating is that the project team leader signed off on the color proof however the press inspection showed a different color from what we all had approved. Meeting with all the team players we found out that the contractor had built the colors wrong and the color proof we original signed off on before the press inspection was on a different paper therefore the colors looked different. Something like this rarely happens but to avoid something this in the future it is best to use PMS colors only and NOT built colors because built colors are always hard to match. I also asked the designer to give me the numbers to build the colors and which PMS color they are trying to match and get those numbers as well. The end results were very successful, The Project Team Leader was happy, the designer was happy and I was happy, the publications looked beautiful.

This particular project went through a “Scope Change” there was a modification to the deliverables or work process as outlined in the original project plan. Greer (2007) I had a flight out of the country the next day, less than 24 hours and was just dealt a major crisis and I needed to take care of things before leaving work on that February 2008 afternoon. I had to do something fast to diffused the mistake and assure the Project Team Leader, that everything will be ok. Project managers should approach changes of scope in a business-like (as opposed to

emotional) fashion. Greer (2007)

Once we (the team) narrowed down what the problem was and how it happened, it was easier to fix the problem. I had to document all the changes,this included adjusting the timeline. Since a perfect plan may not result in the desired outcomes due to unexpected changes, it is important to stay calm.

The publications turned out flawlessly and everybody was happy with the finish products, especially the Project Team Leader. What made this project successful, even when it appeared to be a crisis was making sure all the stakeholders and all the team members were involved from beginning and we all came together and brainstormed what had gone wrong and what we need to do to fix the problem. There were no finger pointing and blaming –the goal was to fix the mistake and we did that with no cost to the agency and along a few hundred dollars from the contractor.

Reference:

Greer, M. (2010) Project Management Minimalist: Laureate Education Ed. © Copyright 2010, http://michaelgreer.biz/?page_id=636