For many engineers, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of finishing a project. After countless hours of testing, it’s refreshing to see all that grit and determination manifested in a new product or feature.
But the work doesn’t stop there.
Project post-mortems give engineers the chance to really dissect the many aspects of their work — both the good and bad. It gives teams a space to reflect, share feedback and ultimately decide how they want to tackle similar projects in the future.
As vice president of enterprise data solutions at healthcare management platform Healthgrades, Mahesh Balasubramanian knows firsthand the importance of project post-mortems. His team of engineers uses post-mortems as a way to communicate effectively with each other and pinpoint areas that need improvement, he said.
While post-mortems offer Balasubramanian and his team a chance to focus on the technicalities of a project, he said one of the greatest rewards to come out of them has been a sense of camaraderie. “It might sound cliche but the importance of positivity can never be overlooked,” Balasubramanian said.
Built In Austin checked in with Balasubramanian to learn how Healthgrades’ engineers get the most out of their project post-mortems.
What does a typical post-mortem look like for your team, and how do you structure those meetings to ensure you’re making the most of that time?
The Healthgrades health system engineering team conducts a post-mortem at the end of our two-week sprint following the sprint demonstration. The post-mortem is hosted by the technical project managers and includes all engineers and analysts who are part of the scrum team. It does not include any leaders or managers in order to provide an open forum for improvement.
The post-mortem is an important part of our process, second to the planning session, and helps calibrate the working process and improve efficiency and morale from within the core of the team. It promotes transparency and helps increase communication through shared experiences.
Our team’s post-mortems are structured around what we call “five Ls”: liked, learned, lacked, longed for and let’s make it happen. We use retros to review sprint and product goals, document constructive feedback on what went well or didn’t, provide closure on the sprint, decide on key action items or experiment with an approach based on the discussions. The team uses EasyRetro and Confluence to summarize the conversation for future review.
What’s one of the most valuable revelations or lessons that has come from a project post-mortem, and how has that helped your team grow?
It might sound cliche but the importance of positivity can never be overlooked. It’s invigorating for the team to take time to celebrate successes and small wins while reviewing areas for improvement. We boost efficiency by streamlining the post-mortem discussion to review the current process and methodology and document action items. This has helped increase participation from team members.
It’s invigorating for the team to take time to celebrate successes and small wins while reviewing areas for improvement.”
What’s one thing you’ve done to improve your post-mortems over time, and what were the results?
Based on discussion with the post-mortem participants, the technical project managers maintain a prioritized retro backlog to help track the progress of all tangible improvements the team members have agreed to achieve in the upcoming sprints. This feedback loop helps the team understand which areas are improving over time and which need greater focus. This also ensures overall team adaptability and prevents the recurrence of the same type of issues. The team’s cadence and shared responsibility have improved drastically based on this action-oriented approach.
