Question One
There are numerous potential areas where things can go wrong when the project closure is not done, ranging from budgetary issues with the lack of remuneration of all the team members. Some of the specific issues that may arise when a project closure is not performed include idle resources and inconsistent documentation.
Resources especially human resource may stay idle for a long time since there is no clear definition of their duties moving on forwards after the completion of the project. Workers, who were hired on a contractual basis will end up being confused or left stranded wondering what to do next since the project manager has not closed the project and the project activities and objectives have been exhausted. It is at the closure phase that the organizational resources are reassigned to other projects Berkun, S. 2008, 108). Employees hired on contract terms need to know if they will continue working with the firm on another project or their engagement is no longer required and they only need to claim their dues and leave the company.
At the closure phase, the project manager will have to compile all documentation used in the project and come up with a report that would be used for future references. The finance and accounting department rely heavily on the documents availed to them to determine whether or not the project was a success (Larson, E. 2014, 88). There was a time I worked on a project and made the mistake of not closing the project, soon all the workers dispersed and went to seek other opportunities. While preparing the report, I realized some of the documents were missing and had to call some of the team members, but this proved difficult since some of them were unreachable. I wasted a lot of time looking for the documents. This could have been avoided if project closure was conducted before the team members dispersed.
Question Two
Through PIR, a project manager can analyze all the dynamics of the project and determine all the potential areas of improvement. Through PIR, the manager can determine the satisfaction of the stakeholder and weigh the costs against the benefits that are expected in the near future.
Stakeholders, especially the customers, are an important element of the project, and their satisfaction is what the project managers are after. PIR will determine whether the needs of the end user are met and whether they are the project’s sponsor was satisfied with the outcome (Kerzner, H. 2013, 9). The project manager could conduct interviews with the various stakeholders to determine their satisfaction rate and solicit feedback on areas that had the potential of being better if things were done differently. The information gathered can then be incorporated by the project manager in the future projects.
Another way the PIR will help a project manager improve their future performance would be to analyze the cost of the project and compare them with the benefits achieved and the potential benefits (Verzuh, E. 2015, 8). This analysis will shed light on the phases of the project that consumed the highest amount of resources and ways this could have been minimized through cost-cutting strategies such as reuse and recycling of material. The operation cost of the final solution is also important for the project manager as well as the users. Users want a solution that is easy to maintain and takes into consideration the limitations on the user side.
References
Berkun, S., 2008. Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management (Theory in Practice).California: O'Reilly Media.
Kerzner, H., 2013. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. Hoboken: Wiley.
Larson, E., 2014. Project Management: The Managerial Process. Lonsdale: MH Publications
Verzuh, E., 2015. The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management. Hoboken: Wiley.
