Project Retrospective Methodology

Project histories provide an important source of input into understanding what went wrong and what forces led to those problems.

The pillars of our approach are to:

• Establish a timeline that provides a basis for shared interpretation and causality of events
• Get participation across a spectrum of teams that allows us to document the problems while also providing some inoculation for a sense of blame that can hamper progress
• Diagnose and document root causes across multiple perspectives

Collectively, these ensure shared understanding among cross-functional teams and (crucially) between teams and leadership, which we’ve seen be very effective in changing organizational behavior and improving outcomes.