Learning
No project or programmeprogram is complete without a post-implementation review and a final report. Evaluating ongoing or completed Foresight projects or programmesprograms is essential to ensure accountability, credibilitycredibility, and potential to stakeholders.

Just as important as the project or programmeprogram outcomes is the ability to learn from successes and failures and pass these on to others conducting new studies. And, it’s important to be able to check the outcomes against the original objectives ensuring each has been achieved or explanations given and further actions noted to correct any perceived shortfalls or seize new opportunities.

Process
At its basic a post-implementation review can be as simple as the leader and/or team writing up their view of the outcome. But, a better method is to interview, or survey, key actors and stakeholders for their evaluation. The object is not to start a witch hunt for the guilty but to create dialogue about what went right or wrong in non-personal terms so that learning can be diffused into the organisation.organization.

These post-implementation reviews should be readily available to any authorisedauthorized person at any time. We provide the means to do this.

The review should consider all aspects of the project or programmeprogram and give the opportunity for the sponsor(s) to formally sign off and add their own evaluation of the outcome(s).

The outcomes should be expressed in both quantitative and qualitative comparisons of results versus expected targets.



Documentation
Each aspect should provide a short summary of the:

• Results achieved
• Strategic variances versus expectations
• Lessons learned
• Recommended next steps

There is no need to wait until the end of a project or programmeprogram to begin creating the review,review; indeedindeed, major benefit can be achieved myby making the review an ongoing part of the process. Continuous review will highlight issues as they arise and create a process for determining corrective action. In effect, it becomes one of the team’s key project management documents and helps keep everyone on message. Unexpected benefitsbenefits' 'success"success stories'stories" can be documented as the work progresses and used as examples of positive outcomes.

Lastly, continuous review means less work in going back in time, and people’s memory, to create the document as well as reducing a potentially significant workload for a team likely to be disbanded before the review is finished.

Further reference

• Follow-up of the exerciseExercise

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