I remember this situation of one of my clients: change was implemented and the spotlight shifted to Incident Management (you guessed it \u2013 resolving incidents that arose as a consequence of the change). It\u2019s not that the change was uncontrolled; quite the contrary \u00ad\u2013 it was well prepared, managed, and finished just how it should be (but consequences, like incidents, used to happen, and even that is usually considered normal). What was missing was having all stakeholders (e.g., users, change implementation team, Service Level Manager, Change Manager, etc.) sit down together and review the implementation.<\/p>\n
Why? Or, better to say, for what reason would we add one more activity (IT has plenty of activities and responsibilities already)? I agree; it could be that everything went perfectly, all requirements were met, the team delivered effectively, etc. But, as I experienced so many times \u2013 everything can be done better, and mistakes don\u2019t have to be repeated.<\/p>\n
Try to recall a situation when you finished something (e.g., fixing something at home). You might remember saying, \u201cIt\u2019s good, but next time I will do it this way.\u201d That was your Post Implementation Review (PIR), or \u201creview.\u201d PIR takes place after deployment of new release or change implementation. Every time? No. The Change policy or Release policy are excellent places to define what undergoes formal review, and how.<\/p>\n
If you are more knowledgeable with ITIL<\/a>\u00a0framework, then I would expect questions like: \u201cBut there is a process called Change Evaluation \u2013 how is PIR different?\u201d The Change Evaluation process in ITIL is more formal and spans throughout the whole lifecycle of change. PIR takes place when something (change or release) is over and it is a part of the Change Management process<\/a> (read this article to find out more about Change Management: Elements of Change Management in ITIL<\/a>). For example, a significant change would be the subject of the Change Evaluation process. The change will not only be evaluated when finished, but most of the major milestones will be evaluated as well (e.g., before the build phase begins).
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