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Learning Project Lessons

By: Mike Staves Click author's name for more of his/her articles

We should but do we? The answer tends towards the negative I’m afraid. It’s not that we don’t try, after all formal structures of Project Management methodologies have the task associated with capturing lessions learned experiences as a set of activities as part of project closure. So where does it all go wrong. I offer some reasons as follows;

1. There is such a sigh of relief when a project is implemented that the end activities tend to be less important than those that aid delivery. This being the case as more time passes there becomes a feeling that the time could be better spent thinking and defining the next project. This ultimately means that lessions learned activities do not happen.

2. The process of capturing vital lessions learned necessitates all leading stakeholders to take part. Invariably by the time meetings are set up, stakeholders are not available or see this activity as less important so there is an unwillingness to attend. Without everyone present then the exercise will not achieve any meaningful objective.

3. Even when there is good output from lessions learned activites there is reluctance, unwillingness or refusal to use them as an input into the next project. In most cases the documentation stay with the project it reflects, as though this is the most appropriate place along with other project closure documentation. On the contrary it is future projects which own the output and not the project lessions were captured.

4. Project people generally do not like looking backward or reliving unfortunate events from previous projects. Also everyone has their own world view of what actually happened and the causes.

5. There is not a consistent approach to feeding lessions learned into subsequent projects, either by best practice or PMO functions. Usually Project Managers have access to lessions learned documentation and it falls on them to decide and take on board any relevant factors.

It is clear that significant benefit can be gained from reviewing and implementing lessions learned findings. Even if by doing so it only makes a small percentage of errors less likely, then this could translate into a reduction of issues, a mitigation against some risks and change, which in themselves cause more time and cost to be expended. I believe that a little preparation here can make a real difference going forward especially as continual improvement becomes part of project team activities. Ways to ensure this can happen are;

1. Ensure that a review by the project team of previous and related lessions learned output is a prerequisite and input to the next project.

2. If a PMO [Project Management Office] function exists then they should have the responsibility to enforce a review and ensure that consideration is adequate and included in future projects.

3. Encourage the mindset in projects leaders and teams that previous lessions learned matters to cost, timescales and efficiency in delivering future projects.

4. Create a culture of continual improvement with reviews and analysis of what has gone before.

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