Break The Cycle of Repeating Mistakes

  Lessons Learned   PM Network  

It's finally over. Mistakes were made. Deadlines were missed.

But the “project from hell” is done. And now it’s time to move on. First, though, a warning: History has an eerie way of repeating itself.

If the same mistakes creep up time and time again, organizations “may find they are not growing in their project management expertise,” says Sandra F. Rowe, PMP, senior project manager at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Detroit, Michigan, USA. She is also the author of Project Management for Small Projects [Management Concepts, 2007].

Simply taking note of the past isn’t enough. Organizations must integrate past experiences into their current and future projects. That includes generating metrics to track how often the same old issues arise in both projects that succeed and those that flop. Companies that skip this step may miss out on the opportunity to implement good practices—and weed out bad ones.

N THE MOMENT

Project managers should always be prepared to recognize a lessons-learned moment, Ms. Rowe says. Those instances may occur when the team is frustrated and airing complaints outside team meetings, or it may come at the end of a project phase when team mem- bers see room for improvement. They can even spring up mid-project if things are veering off course and re-planning is needed to get back on track.…

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