Lessons learned are the documented information that reflects both the positive and negative experiences of a project. They represent the organization’s commitment to project management excellence and the project manager’s opportunity to learn from the actual experiences of others.
Clever People Learn from their Own ExperienceWise people learn from Others Experience
Step 1: Identify Lessons Learned
Step 1 of the lessons learned process is to identify comments and recommendations that could be valuable for future projects. The two activities for identifying lessons learned are: 1) prepare for lessons learned session and conduct lessons learned session.
Prepare for lessons learned session
The person who will be facilitating the lessons learned session should prepare in advance. In preparation for the lessons learned session the facilitator should have the participants complete a project survey. The project survey will help the participants to be better prepared to respond during the lessons learned session and will also give them the opportunity to provide input if they are unable to attend.
The project survey should be organized by category. The use of categories will ensure key information is not missed and will later help to focus the discussion. Standard categories for each project should be defined and additional categories specific to a project can be added. Suggested categories include project management, resources, technical, communication, business processes, requirements, design and build, testing, implementation and external areas. These categories can be subdivided into more detailed categories. For example, project management can be divided into the process groups: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling and closing. Planning can then be further divided into project schedule, risk analysis, etc. A simple approach is to begin with a few categories such as project management, resources, technical and external areas and then add more categories as needed.
The project survey should also include specific questions for each category. These responses will be used by the lessons learned facilitator to guide the discussion during the lessons learned session. Three key questions should be included as part of the survey: 1) what went right, 2) what went wrong and 3) what needs to be improved.
Lessons Learned Session
A lessons learned session focuses on identifying project success and project failures, and includes recommendations to improve future performance on projects. Project managers have a professional obligation to conduct lessons learned sessions for all projects with key internal and external stakeholders, particularly if the project yielded less than desirable results (PMI, 2004, p. 230). The lessons learned session is a very important part of the lessons learned process. If the session is not successful, the organization loses out on the lessons learned opportunity.
To obtain optimum results, the lessons learned sessions should be facilitated by someone other than the project manager. If the project manager chooses to facilitate the session, the project survey results should summarized by someone other than the project manager and shared with the participants during the session. This will ensure the all the relevant items are included in the discussion. The facilitator should review key documents and project survey results, and then prepare a list of questions specific to the project. The facilitator should use lessons learned categories during the session to help focus the participants thinking and discussion. Finally, the facilitator should always ask the three key questions.
- What went right
- What went wrong
- What needs to be improved
Step 2: Document Lessons Learned
Step two of the lessons learned process is to document and share findings.
After lessons learned are captured, they should be reported to project stakeholders. Different types of reports can be produced based on the audience. The detailed lessons learned report consists of the data captured during the lessons learned session and any additional input from participants who were not able to attend. The facilitator should distribute the detailed lessons learned report to all participants and participants should be given time to respond to the accuracy of the report. After the report is finalized, the entire project team should receive a copy even if they did not participate in the lessons learned session. The final report should be stored with the other project documentation.
The facilitator should prepare a summary for leadership. This report should present an overview of the lessons learned process and a summary of project strengths – what went well, project weaknesses – what went wrong and recommendations – what we need to improve. The detailed report can be included as an attachment or made available in the event leadership needs more information.
Step 3: Analyze lessons learned
Step three of the lessons learned process is to analyze and organize the lessons learned for application of results. At level 1 analysis is more informal as the team decides what can be done with the lessons learned. Information is shared with other teams during organizational meetings. Project management process improvements or training needs are often identified as a result of lessons learned recommendations.
Step 4: Store lessons learned
Step four of the lessons learned process is to store in a repository. At level 1, organizations do not have a dedicated lessons learned repository in place. Lessons learned documents are stored along with other project documents, normally on a shared drive or in some form of project library. There is no easy means of retrieving the lessons. Organizations often set up a lessons learned folder on the shared drive to make the lessons learned reports available to other project teams.
Step 5: Retrieve lessons learned
Step five of the lessons learned process is to retrieve for use on current projects. This is step is rarely used at level 1. Although lessons learned reports are stored on a shared drive, without key word search capability, it is difficult to retrieve the appropriate lesson.
Level 2: Evaluation of Lessons Learned Repository
At level 2 organizations have a defined process and basic tools for identifying and documenting lessons learned. The process has become part of the organization’s culture and is consistently applied to projects and process documents have been revised to allow for more efficiency. Although organizations are consistently capturing lessons learned they are not fully utilizing them.
What organizations need at level 2 are effective tools and the beginning of analysis of stored lessons learned. Why collect lessons learned if the valuable information is not shared within an organization to either avoid reoccurrence of lessons learned or more importantly repeat best practices lessons learned.
Process to Evaluate Lessons Learned Collected in Organization’s Repository
As mentioned earlier, the identification of lessons learned from each project is the primary responsibility of each project manager. During this level, organizations need to dedicate a resource or resource(s) to begin the analysis of documented lessons learned. The purpose of the analysis is to identify actions that can be taken within the organization to strengthen weak areas of knowledge and implementation during each project. This can be done through enhanced training of project managers and/or team members; this includes project sponsors and champions. It may mean added or improved procedures and processes.
The person(s) tasked with analysis of an organization’s lessons learned should be located at a level within the organization that will enable the person(s) to implement approved solutions.
It is also important that gathering the original lessons learned data should be collected utilizing consistent processes and forms. Consistency of input information allows for speedier identification of reoccurring issues and proactive resolutions. An example of an effective lessons learned tool would be a consistent lessons learned input form.
The lessons learned input form is a key tool. This document allows for more consistent data collection as well as provides a means for easier retrieval. The lessons learned template should include previously agreed to fields such as: category, lesson learned, action taken, how did you arrive at the action taken, root cause and key words. Key words should always be identified. Key words are ultimately one of the determinants of success in utilizing lessons learned (Prichard, 1997, p. 94), and are essential for easy retrieval. The data on the lessons learned input form is transferred to the organization’s lessons learned repository. The lessons learned input form can also be shared with the project team during the lessons learned session. As a team member identifies a lesson, that needs to be included in the repository, the necessary information can be captured while the team member is available.
Types of Reports based on Lessons Learned Data
At level 1, organizations should be able to produce lessons learned detailed and summary reports from information gathered during the team sessions and share these reports with immediate project stakeholders. At level 2 more reporting options should be available.
Additional reporting options include:
- Detailed Report – organized by key fields from the lessons learned template and includes responses gathered during the session.
- Summary – a one-page brief summarizing the findings and providing recommendations for correcting the findings.
- Findings – a summary of the issues found during the review process.
- Recommendations – recommended actions to be taken to correct findings. The approved actions should be documented and tracked to completion. In some cases the approved action may become a project due to high level of resources required to address the finding.
Level 3: Metrics
During Level 2 we noted that organizations should have identified process and templates in place to address lessons learned. Analysis of lesson learned data was discussed. During Level 3, it is important to be able to take the completed analysis and convert that data to metrics that are important to the organization’s executive level action approvers.
A typical executive has a very busy schedule and most review their emails and reports utilizing the “Evelyn Woods Speed Reading Technique” or something similar. So the executive-level lessons learned report should be no more than 3 pages to ensure that the data is read and decisions should be easy to determine. The 3 page report should consist of: Page 1 – text overview of analyzed data including recommended next steps…improvement or recognitions. Page 2 and 3 should be clear graphical presentations that provide a clear picture for the executive to make a decision.
The most successful graphical presentations display either pie charts or bar charts with easily understood x-axis and y-axis titles. The graph legend should also be concise and easily understood.
It is appropriate to include more than one diagram on each page, but remember the intent of the graphs are to tell a visual story of what’s wrong and/or what is successful in the completion of projects within the executive’s area of responsibility.
Equally important, remember who your ultimate audience will be when preparing your metrics reports.
The key you want to achieve is Effective Metrics Reports which can only be achieved if the capture of project lessons learned data is consistent and maintained in a centralized repository.
Achieving the Next Level
We have shared with you different levels of lessons learned utilization and solutions we hope you can utilize to either initiate of improve your lessons learned processes, repositories and metrics. We have also provided you with justification for the importance of a lessons learned repository and the long term value that can be gained if the stored lessons learned are reviewed and analyzed on a regular basis.
Capturing lessons learned should be an on-going effort throughout the life of the project. This mindset should be strongly encouraged by the project manager from day one. Whether we are using lessons learned to prepare for current projects or for identifying project management process improvements, we learn from project failures as well as project successes. By not learning from project failures we are doomed to repeat similar situations. By not maximizing on project successes, we miss opportunities to implement good processes and practices to successfully complete existing and future work. Make sure that capturing project lessons learned is part of your procedures and an expected deliverable from your project management and product methodologies. Ensure that project teams work together to document project best practices and areas of improvement for the next project.
The final important step to ensure a successful lessons learned program is a commitment from senior level management. That commitment is visible through regular repository metrics review, action taken to implement best practices, and support to improve negative or re-occurring project trends. In order to keep the value of lessons learned in front of executives, it is critical to keep executive level reporting brief and concise. Recommendations for enhancements to organization processes and procedures and recognitions for best practices should be available on the Summary Page and in the first paragraph of any executive report.
