[Sigia-l] post mortem help

[Wendy Cown]

Thanks for sharing this top-level process. 

I'm really looking for the more "human" side of the project not
quantitative but qualitative.  Yes, we have the quantitative and it's a
great success and met all the project goals and then some.  Users are happy
and client is happy - hurray! 

But now back to project reality - there were successes in how we worked and
the process.  There are also areas we can improve and learn on for our
future projects.  These are what I want to capture - what worked and what
we can improve upon and *how* we can improve upon it.  For both how we
worked with the client and how we on the production team worked internally.
 This was our first project together so I think documenting it especially
productive.

I've looked online for resources and have found some helpful fodder to get
people thinking about the project.  So I was hoping for personal experience
 and tips for getting the best results, techniques for leading sessions,
and being something we can build upon.  At the moment it's getting client
feedback I'm researching online: to elicit their thoughts on how the
process worked well and what can be improved. 

Thanks,
Wendy
-- 
Wendy Cown
wcown at cloud9.net


Quoting Todd Warfel <lists at toddwarfel.com>:

> Well, first, how would you define a "post-mortem?"
> 
> Hopefully, you were thinking ahead during the design/development phase 
> and actually set some baseline measurements for a post launch 
> review/measurement (which is what I would think of when seeing 
> post-mortem).
> 
> Here's what we do:
> 
> 1. Make some kind of initial base-line measurement during the research 
> phase. (Ours is a four phase process known as DIVE: Discover, 
> Interaction, Visual, Engineering).
> 
> 2. Test against that baseline during Interaction/Visual/Engineering 
> phases utilizing things like paper and interactive prototypes.
> 
> 3. Post-launch, we do a follow up measurement to see first and foremost
> 
> that we didn't do any damage (e.g. did it get worse than it was before 
> the (re)design - hopefully, this never happens and so far it hasn't), 
> next we'll look at the metrics we setup (e.g. decrease transaction 
> process time, decrease abandonment rates, increase customer loyalty), 
> which is typically measured over a predetermined period of time (e.g. 
> 3-6 months).
> 
> This is done using a variety of tools (e.g. surveys, additional 
> usability testing, usage patterns) depending on available resources 
> (e.g. time, money, man power) and customer needs.
> 
> On Oct 25, 2004, at 12:03 PM, Wendy Cown wrote:
> 
> > Hi all, I am looking for resources or guidance on conducting 
> > post-mortems.
> > I launched my first project at this job and intend to do a post-mortem
> 
> > and
> > realized I need some help.
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> Todd R. Warfel
> Partner, Design and Usability Specialist
> MessageFirst | making products easier to use
> --------------------------------------
> Contact Info
> voice: 	(607) 339-9640
> email: 	twarfel at messagefirst.com
> web: 	www.messagefirst.com
> aim: 		twarfel at mac.com
> --------------------------------------
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> In practice, they are not.
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