15.3. Finishing the Development Project

We know that a CRM project is not really complete until the offer has been made to the customer and the results have been analyzed and reported. However, the end of the infrastructure development phase marks a major milestone in that the remainder of the CRM life cycle does not require as much interaction between business functions and the IT department. Because this is a cycle that will be repeated over and over until you have done as much CRM as you need, it's important to examine the partnership and how well it worked, as well as how the overall project went. This is how we can learn from the experience and results before launching the next cycle.

15.3.1. Project Retrospective

The project retrospective has two parts. First, the project manager will develop and distribute a questionnaire to all team members as well as to other key contributors to the overall CRM effort. The questions should be focused on how satisfactory the team members found different aspects of the project process, such as the following:

• Scheduling

• Resource availability

• Project definition

• Consistency

• Communication

• Overall satisfaction

• Organizational learning

• Repeatability

Then the project manager will schedule a retrospective meeting in which the outcome of the questionnaire can be discussed, and improvements and key learning identified.

15.3.2. Formal Signoff

Always get a formal signoff on each major milestone of every project. This should be accomplished in a fairly informal, discussion group setting, where it's clear that the relevant executives (program manager and sponsor at the very least) actually understand what has been achieved and where the project stands. Then communicate the heck out of both the milestone completion and project status. The formal signoff is another way to ensure communication and involvement of key stakeholders throughout the organization. Some combination of the business project manager and IT project manager should submit a recommendation for signoff to the steering committee and the executive sponsor. This gives the project team “face time” with these key supporters to discuss progress and issues, as well as reasoning behind the plan.

Remember that formal signoff is for the purpose of communication; it's not for covering your @##. Make the process simple, clear, and painless. Never ask anyone to approve the whole program or even the whole project at one time.

15.3.3. Celebrate

Again, our six-month CRM projects must be repeated for us to achieve the program results we're aiming for. Now that you've learned what could have gone better by getting team and management feedback during the retrospective and signoff, it's time to celebrate the hard work and success that has been achieved. The team will be much more willing to begin a new project if the work they've done so far is recognized and rewarded. Even if the project manager is not an individual who enjoys this kind of celebration, many of the team members are. Find someone on the team who really knows the benefit of recognition and celebration, and let him or her organize a suitable event. It is critical to take notice that a major event has occurred and to thank those responsible, particularly if you expect them to continue delivering successful projects for you.

Now that we've completed the development project, it's time to move to the next transition: integrating our new components.