You’ve delivered a nice project – or not less than made it to the top, exhausted! Now it’s time to handover the work as a result of the project is closing.
But what do you’ve to do? If you’ve ever ended up on a project the place the work by no means appears to finish… and the modifications hold coming in… and despite the fact that it’s technically closed folks nonetheless come to you for assist… then that is for you!
I had one memorable project the place I couldn’t do away with it. There wasn’t anybody actually to hand it over to, so a lot of the help questions got here to me just because I knew the work inside out. It was fantastic, but it surely did pull me away from different initiatives.
And it’s not what project administration is meant to be. We’re supposed to ship the project, hand it over to a keen and welcoming BAU crew after which transfer on to ship the following cool factor.
Here’s how to make that occur so you’ll be able to transfer on to your subsequent project understanding you’ve left this one behind all tidy.
Handover vs project closure
What is the distinction between project handover and project closure?
Closure is the section or stage of the project. It’s a part of the project lifecycle. A closure doc is a formal log out that marks the top of the project work. It is a report of the project administration course of. The closure doc talks about what you probably did and the way that in contrast to what you set out to do.
Handover is a part of the work the project supervisor has to do on the project to full the closure. It occurs when the deliverables are full but it surely additionally contains offering details about the background and context for the project to present a full image of the work that was achieved.
Handing one thing over just isn’t a one-and-done exercise. It’s a course of that you simply’ll full over time. We do it because it creates a easy transition from the project surroundings to the operational/dwell/BAU surroundings.
When to do the handover
I’ve handed over many initiatives in my time, and my trick (it’s probably not a trick) is to do an incremental handover.
Ideally, you need to be handing over deliverables as they get accomplished. Don’t wait till the top of the project and handover a big bunch of stuff. It’s overwhelming to the operational crew and it’s too arduous for them to keep on high of what’s coming their manner.
Choosing to contain the operational crew on an ongoing foundation solely has benefits. The project handover course of takes longer, sure, however the outcomes are higher as a result of they’re onboard with the concept and also you aren’t throwing one thing over the fence to them (that’s how we used to discuss it once I labored in IT) and hoping they’ll catch it.
It’s not solely deliverables that get handed over. You are additionally handing over the content material and context, and information.
Incremental information switch is a higher method. As quickly as one thing is constructed or delivered, verify the place it ought to go and ensure they’re prepared to find out about it.
Of course, some issues want to wait till the top of the project earlier than they are often handed over, however attempt to spot something that may be transferred earlier to save everybody further complications at project shut.
Step 1: Work out who will get the handover
Who are you handing this project over to?
Ideally, it is best to know this already. It’s most likely the project proprietor and their crew. However, it’s potential that a few of that group don’t have even a high-level overview of the project, so it’s price planning in a recap.
You ought to plan on your handover from the start of the project. During project initiation you’d have labored out the homeowners for every of the deliverables or not less than the overall crew who will likely be receiving the handover.
Check your project RACI matrix as effectively or ask crew leaders, subject material specialists and the project board to determine folks – particularly if the people who have been there initially have moved on. The communication plan may have helpful data in as there will likely be names of stakeholders in there.
If your project concerned any modifications to know-how, be sure the handover contains the IT Help Desk or help desk or no matter you name them. They will likely be essential in fielding incoming calls from customers to the right crew.
Read subsequent: 5 Tips for working with the IT helpdesk on initiatives.
Step 2: Work out what to handover
What, precisely, are you handing over?
Again, it is best to have this data already. During project initiation and planning you’d have labored out what deliverables could be required. Check again to the project necessities and success standards to see the entire record of what the operational crew predict (remembering that change requests may need been made since that doc was final up to date).
Think about what the recipient of the handover wants to know. I begin a handover doc in the direction of the top of a project or section and use it to make notes of what data to move on. The doc turns into the premise for my information switch.
Use the project handover templates out of your PMO or make your individual. Generally, you’re in search of a guidelines of issues to cowl off as you hand work over to your colleagues.
Start your notes with a handover plan template
I’ve a tried-and-tested Word doc that I take advantage of as a handover and transition plan. It’s a nice place to begin on your personal plans as it’s absolutely customizable.
Members of Project Management Rebels have entry to this totally free, together with a detailed handover guidelines and plenty of different sources.
Here are the principle issues it is best to embrace within the handover.
General project standing and background
What occurred on the project? Share some data to present the context for the project. What was the enterprise motive for doing it and is that also legitimate? How far have you ever bought with addressing the issue this project set out to repair?
Provide hyperlinks to any project documentation for background. Share a little bit of historical past: what labored effectively and what didn’t? If you’ve already had a classes discovered session, share the output from that.
If there are any dangers that may nonetheless be related after the project has closed, move these on too.
Scope gadgets/deliverables
Be clear about what was created and accomplished and what was not. If there are any additional project scope modifications that you simply famous as a good thought however didn’t implement, hand these over too. Then the BAU crew can select whether or not to act on these modifications and implement them sooner or later.
Scope can embrace system descriptions, design paperwork, course of maps and different documentation in addition to the software program or techniques themselves.
Schedule of remaining exercise
Share the excellent project-related steps so the crew know what’s arising and when they are going to be anticipated to run with the deliverables in a enterprise as common surroundings.
It’s possible that you simply’ll solely have the project closure doc to difficulty, however if you’re doing incremental information switch or your deliverables are phased, there could be extra of the project left to do.
Budget
Share the project price range place. How a lot was spent and on what? If any ‘spare’ price range is out there, be sure the crew know whether or not they can entry it or whether or not it goes again into the principle project pot.
Knowledge created in the course of the project
Share any course of maps, person guides or manuals, paperwork, the project wiki in the event you had one, movies, analysis papers and different issues that may not strictly depend as ‘proper’ deliverables however have been created in the course of the project.
Project artifacts like these are all very useful whenever you need to be sure the handoveree will get a absolutely rounded image and all the data they want to proceed to perform their function sooner or later utilizing the project’s outputs.
Contact particulars
I do know you might be shifting on, however there are most likely different contact particulars price sharing. For instance:
- Procurement contacts who labored on the deal
- Legal contacts who supported with contract assessment approval
- Supplier contacts who will preserve the merchandise going ahead
- Other subject material specialists who supported the project.
If the project backfilled any roles, let the BAU crew know that these people will likely be shifting again to their day jobs and the roles will now not be stuffed – if that’s the case.
Contracts
The variety of instances we’ve had to search for contracts and it’s taken ages as a result of they aren’t saved anyplace central…
If you’ve a central contract repository, or a procurement/buying crew that’s chargeable for contract administration, be sure they’ve a copy of any closing, signed contracts.
If you’ve version-controlled paperwork (and contracts must be), be sure the most recent variations are what you handover.
Part of the project work will likely be to shut out contracts, however any ongoing contracts, for instance, upkeep and help provision, will want to be actively managed by somebody.
Systems data
Make a record of any system logins and software program that has been arrange, put in or improved as a part of the project. Check the best folks have the logins and permissions they want. In specific, be sure somebody who just isn’t you has admin rights to add and take away new customers as new workers be a part of the crew.
Benefits monitoring
Finally, the project was most probably delivered as a result of the group desires to obtain some sort of enterprise end result from it. Who goes to be monitoring project advantages and the way are they going to do it?
On considered one of my applications, we now have initiatives which are accomplished and initiatives which are nonetheless in-flight. The project BAU homeowners for the finished initiatives observe advantages and current these numbers again to this system board.
Identify who’s chargeable for ongoing monitoring, what they’ve to observe, how that’s reported again (and who to) and the way lengthy they’ve to observe for.
Perhaps they gained’t have to report again to anybody and the info is just for their data. But ensure you each know what is anticipated.
Step 3: Do the handover
The subsequent step is to full the handover.
Handovers are actually simply conferences the place you speak to the individual concerning the factor you might be handing over to them. They can ask questions. In my expertise, they usually neglect some questions and observe up with you later – that’s fantastic too.
Schedule any one-to-one or joint conferences for information sharing periods. You can even present a written handover within the type of your notes, hyperlinks to paperwork or Microsoft Teams channels and many others.
You would possibly see folks recommending that you simply full a handoff doc, however in my expertise, the sorts of initiatives I work on find yourself with a number of paperwork as a result of there may be extra to handover than could be written down in a single doc. For instance, we additionally handover techniques entry.
Step 4: Ask for suggestions and be round to help
Finally, verify in with the handoveree and see if there may be the rest you’ll be able to present them with.
Hopefully they’ll say no, however providing is sweet observe. It ought to scale back the quantity of questions you get later when technically you need to be working on one other project.
You may need to run a ‘hypercare’ section the place you might be collectively chargeable for help. Work collectively to handle incoming queries and handle the deliverables till the BAU crew really feel snug doing it by themselves.
Hypercare is especially related if considered one of your deliverables is software program. Typically we use it when there may be a product launch and a crew has to use a new software program software. The project crew present on-site help whereas the customers rise up to pace with the way it works. You can prolong this idea into the handover section too, whether it is helpful.
Your subsequent steps
If you’ve learn this far, you most likely have a project shut arising. Here are some easy motion steps to put together on your project handover section.
- Collate all documentation that wants to be handed over
- Review the RACI and determine who receives what in the course of the handover
- Start a set of project handover notes so that you don’t neglect something
- Schedule some handover conferences with key stakeholders.
And that’s it! Walking away from a project can deliver up every kind of emotions, particularly if the project went rather well and also you labored with a superb crew.
Read my full information to project closure for what else to contemplate throughout this section of your work. I even have a particular information for project closure in PRINCE2 in the event you use that technique. Remember that regardless of the end result of your project, you probably did your finest!
