Celebrating at end of Project

“All work and no play makes John a dull boy”

There should be some kind of celebrations at the end of a project and if it is a large project, then probably at each milestone reached.

I have found team outings/celebrations, apart from creating a sense of feel-good factor among the team members, also help in team bonding. People get to know each other better in an informal non-work related setting. We have had scenarios where given a choice, the team members consider these as part of the hygiene factors to decide whether to be in a team or not. They compare how often their own team has these good times vis-a-vis other teams.

In one of my project which was a maintenance and support type of work, there was no end at all. The project always kept on going.  One request closed, 2 more were open. People never had a break. There was no end. Also you cannot be partying at every request that is closed. Other teams which were involved in regular development work, they used to have the ending rituals as their end was very well defined.  We decided that in order to overcome the issue of not having any ending, we will have parties or outings every two months. This helped in keeping the team morale high and everyone happy.

Another reason to have these informal lunch party/outings is that it is a good way to gather feedback about the project as well as feedback on a personal level also. Everyone benefits!