NOTE: TELL EVERYONE THAT NO ATTEMPT IS BEING MADE TO AFFIX BLAME. THE KEY IS TO FIND OUT WHAT PEOPLE ARE REALLY THINKING. THEIR HONEST FEELINGS.
1. What was the threat, problem, challenge or opportunity this project was meant to address?
2. Does this project fit with the corporate strategy? What were the project’s original goals? Can you describe how the project was supposed to work?
3. Who were/are the key players on this project? Did anyone attempt to communicate the threat strongly enough and to the right decision makers?
4. When did the project begin?
5. What analysis was done, if any?
6. If any was done, was it thorough enough?
7. What were the initial assumptions? Are they documented somewhere?
8. What were the early warning signs (know how and when the problem began?) that prompted you to believe that your expectational/ objectives/plans were not being accomplished?
9. When did the organization take action and what action(s) did it take?
10. What are we still doing well? Any notable achievements? What has not worked? How do we know this? Should the organization establish a stopping rule?
11. Were any attempts made to stop this project/ or mitigate the impact?
12. Does this project have defined success metrics?
13. Where are we/ you now?
● How would you solve this problem? What do you want done?
● If we could start over how would you design this process?
● What could you do? What will you do?
● What numbers do we need?
● What can no longer be saved and must be let go?
● Where should we focus our efforts, now? What is the best we can do/ hope for, now?
14. How severe do you consider the situation to be? How big is the risk?
15. What does the organization believe caused the condition?
16. How have similar situations been handled in the past?
17. Did the organization seek outside assistance for this situation?
18. What has changed since the initial analyses/assumptions?
19. Is this project on the right track? Is the project’s potential future still valid?