Lessons · Project management · closing a project, in order
Closing a project: it is over when the signatures say so
A project closes in order: deliverables accepted in writing, contracts closed and final invoices paid, the result handed to operations, lessons learned finished, records archived, and the team released.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
The team was released in June; in August a supplier's final invoice arrives and nobody has the authority to pay it, and the customer says one deliverable was never signed off. Closing is a sequence because each step needs the people the next step lets go.
How to think about it
Start with acceptance: the written sign-off is what turns work into a deliverable. Then close every contract while the people who know them are still on the project. Hand over, write it up, archive, and only then release the team and the budget.
Worked example
1. Acceptance: the sponsor signs off each deliverable against the acceptance criteriaThe scope statement's tests, run for the last time.
2. Contracts closed: every supplier's final invoice matched, paid, the contract marked completeWhile the people who placed the orders are still here.
3. Handover to operations: the support team trained, the runbook signedThe result now belongs to the people who will run it.
4. Lessons learned finished and filed. 5. Records archivedThe record for the next project and the audit.
6. Team released, remaining budget returnedLast. Everything above needed them.
Your turn
Write what must exist before a deliverable is done at closing.
Written against the acceptance criteria.
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Releasing the team before the contracts are closed. The invoice that arrives in August is answered by someone who was never on the project.