Postmortem

I know, it sounds grim. The examination of a dead body. Its literal translation from Latin is “after death.” However, the expression postmortem has taken hold in the design, tech, and business world as a way to think about lessons learned from a project. It’s a type of reflective thinking that identifies the best and worst parts of project and thinks about how you have learned from the project. To be clear, the project is not just the immediate design of the portfolio, but the places you have been as a writer, in this minor, that got you here. The “project,” then, is every bit of writing, class, and design that is reflected in the final portfolio.

This postmortem (like most) has four parts:

1. Introduction (100-200 words) – Introduce the project and its purpose. Then, describe the process of working on the project. In describing the process, you might consider how long you spent in various parts, what decisions you made that were important, and how you applied past skill or knowledge to it.
2. What went right (200-300 words) – focus on 2-3 of the most important things that you are proud of. These details can be about the design of the portfolio, whether it was how a particular page turned out, or a clever solution to featuring or displaying your work. You should also consider the actual writing featured, including the drafting, revisions, and the process of curation and arrangement.
3. What went wrong (200-300 words) – focus on 2-3 things that were particularly challenging or that never quite came together the way you wanted. What designs did you try that didn’t work? Was there something you liked that the reviewers didn’t? How did you respond? What caused delays or made the project frustrating? As with “what went right,” also think about the writing projects featured, or particular classes. Try to avoid excuses. Technology can be finicky, professors can be idiosyncratic, audiences can be insensitive–we all face moments when things don’t work as they should or we expect. The focus here should be on naming these moments and how you responded to them.
4. Applying the lessons (100-200 words) – in the last section, think about what you learned from the good and the bad and how you might apply that thinking in the future. This should be practical and not just abstract platitudes. Refer to how (and what) you learned to overcome the writing and design challenges, and how that process (or those skills) might be applied in a workplace or future academic setting. This can be everything from an increased literacy with Weebly or Wix to a recognition that sometimes an unfamiliar audience might read your writing in a way you hadn’t intended.

The postmortem should be between 600—1,000 words. A longer postmortem isn’t necessarily better. Use the four headings of the main sections, and even consider adding some subheadings based on certain parts you want to focus on. This is not an essay. Finally, while this is a reflection, you will be posting it to them public blog, so think at moments about communicating to an audience the lessons learned.

When you are done, post to the blog by June 8, 11:59pm. I realize this is a busy time, so if you need more time, please ask as I won’t be able to read this until later in the week anyway.