Problem-Solving Success Tip - Close Your Problem-Solving Effort Formally

Problem-Solving Success Tip - Close Your Problem-Solving Effort Formally

in Management

There's a tendency to drift away from problem-solving projects rather than really closing them, especially if the success criteria have to be monitored for a long period of time to prove the problem is really solved. Formal closure will help insure that the problem is really solved and that there are no loose ends.

The first closure step, once your success criteria indicate the problem is solved, is to get official acknowledgment from your sponsor and other key stakeholders. Show them your success criteria measurements and ask for their agreement that it is time to conclude the problem-solving effort. If you've been communicating with them all along and done a good job of setting your success criteria, this will be a formality. Nevertheless, it is important to verify that everyone really agrees you are finished.

Once you have this agreement, it's time to clean up any odds and ends such as completing any remaining action items, assessing the effort (identifying what went well, and what you will do differently next time), and making sure the project documentation is complete and archived appropriately. Also, if anything needs to be transferred from the problem-solving team to normal operations, this is the last chance to be sure that is taken care of. For example, some metrics that you have been monitoring for the problem-solving effort may be things that should be monitored on an ongoing basis. In that case, they need to be incorporated into the regular operational metrics for the organization.

Then publicize the results, have a celebration and disband the problem-solving team.

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Copyright 2010. Jeanne Sawyer