After many important projects or events, we fail to evaluate whether we accomplished what we set out as our objectives… actually many times we fail to set objectives before we set out to accomplish something important, but that’s a topic for another time.

When we do set objectives and then complete a project, it’s important that as a team, we evaluate how the objectives were achieved so we continue to learn and improve.

Here are a few simple questions I’ve used to debrief with a team on the backside of hitting an important milestone:

What did we identify as the target (successful outcome)?
Where did we hit the target?
Where did we miss the target?
What would we do different next time?
How do we celebrate (if appropriate)?