How to Write a Postmortem Report
Postmortem reports outline an experiment or process for completing a project after individuals have completed and "laid the project to rest." The purpose of a postmortem report is to tell future project leaders how experiments should and should not be conducted. To write a postmortem report, you must obey all or most of the following steps.
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Things You'll Need
- Outline of a conducted experiment including materials, steps and outcome
- References
- Software specifications
Instructions
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1
Describe the background and context of the experiment. Include at least one of the following: how the project's steps were decided, how the team(s) were set up and when and where the experiment took place. Label this section Context, Background or Introduction.
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2
List references, including any research or outside help you received. If the project was for a school assignment, name the teacher or professor and the name of the class. For scholarly research, attach a full bibliography at the end of the report, but list the titles of the works and how they were used in this section. Label this part References.
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3
List and describe materials and techniques. Go into the specifications of the software and electrical equipment if the versions used are essential to the experiment. Label this section Materials or Techniques, and use the name of the essential software or equipment as the subheading if appropriate.
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4
Describe what went right with the experiment or process. This should be a list in paragraph, table or jot form that future teams should repeat when conducting the experiment. This can include successful techniques, materials that should remain the same or any other features you would use again. This also can have various headings and subheadings, such as Essential Steps to Include or What Made the Experiment Successful.
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5
State what needs improvement next time the experiment or process is done. Include anything that needs to be changed because it was lacking or wrong for the experiment. Label this section along the lines of Things that Need Improvement. You may also combine this with the step on What Made the Experiment Successful and label this information under a subheading of Advice or Words of Wisdom.
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Tips & Warnings
Any other possible subheadings and information that is helpful in conducting an experiment should be included. Do not have to limit yourself to this list.
References
- Photo Credit experiment image by Andrey Kiselev from Fotolia.com
