I would like to know about your experiences with Lessons Learned Logs. I personally believe that they are of great use to PM's but would like to know other peoples opinions.
So far in my career I have seen very few companies use them and very few PM's promote the use of them. I feel that it is a shame as they can really assist shaping future projects.
I agree with You. Lessons learnt are very useful project artifacts that help any organization to grow in maturity level in handling projects. This also provides very good information for estimates and a startup point for any new Project Manager.
It is really a very good pool of knowledge, that every organization not only establish but also make this easy accessible and browse able for across PM community of the organization.
Unless it is easy reachable and search able it is useless at the same time.
I would also like to add that Lessons Learned Logs should be updated during the project and not wait until project closure. Lessons learned is about the PM's experiences, observations and recommendations. To be of benefit Lessons Learned should be visible and accessible from a central depository.
Regards
Vasoula Saving Changes...
Hans RobbersSenior Director| SalesforceVlissingen, Netherlands
Hi Roxanne
As the other two and you are saying: Lesson Learned Logs are great and do help to shape new projects.
As Prakash is pointing out they need to be easy accessible and browseable for everybody.
As Vasoula is pointing out you need to keep the log constant updated not only at the end of the project.
I would like to add that lessons learned is a part of knowledge management in a company and therefore should be a part of the training and development department. As long as comapnies are not investing in knowledge management company wide the lessons learned log is a great thing but exists in the pm's head or on his pc.
A great tool but needs investment and attention
kind regards Hans Saving Changes...
Matthew StantonSenior Project Manager| www.energyone.com.auSydney, Nsw, Australia
I have found a review of the lessons learnt log with senior management is often a great educational opportunity for the sponsors and functional managers to learn how they can better support the next project.
Hans makes a good point. A key component of lessons learnt is often recommended additions and changes to the organisations project delivery policies, methodologies and doctrine. It is good practice to have the PMO and other guardians of your project methodologies to do a debrief meeting with the project team to review the lessons learnt at the end of the project.
Saving Changes...
One way to enforce the usage of Lessons learnt database is incorporating the "Search Lessons Learnt Database" as a mandatory activity once PM is assigned to the project. In fact this should be one of the key and mandatory input to Project Planning Processes.
Thanks,
Prakash Saving Changes...
Anonymous
I agree completely Vasoula. It is not just something at the end of a project.
I had to carry out a presentation recently on Lessons Learned for a tender I ran recently to about 75 people and there were so many questions. Not only were PM's present but their team members. The feedback I received was amazing and so many people found it very useful. Some PM's said they used it to review their plans and ensure that they had time in to incorporate tasks that they had not even contemplated carrying out before.
Thank you for all the responses as it is making a very interesting read! Saving Changes...
Peter WrightProgramme Manager| BAE SystemsSouthport, Merseyside, United Kingdom
I have also found Lessons Learned "logs" to be invaluable, but as I have moved between different businesses I have found that they become separate documents that are saved and forgotten.
It all comes down to business intelligence management and if the project function (either the PM(s) or the PMO) is not pushing for a centrally and easily accessible "log" (e.g. Server/Web Based) then as people move knowledge of where information is retained is lost.
I have seen Lessons Learned being put into the RAID Logs in the UK as a live sheet continually updated during the project. Sounds good, but at the end of the project the RAID log is archived with the project folders and the lessons learned are therefore forgotten.
The best practice I have seen from a PM was a web based lessons learned log where at key stages of the project (decision points) they wrote a paper detailing the pro's, cons, risks that were missed/not correctly managed etc. and this issued to all stakeholders but also presented in a summary format to the Key Stakeholders(Project Board). Similar to what Roxanne has detailed.
It has been long known that we only learn from the past and especially from the past mistakes so LLL's are an invaluable tool for PM's and businesses.
I think that a further issue is that the Lessons Learned exercise itself has to be conducted and written up with a view to being useful to other projects. A lot of this is about recording things in such a way that future PMs have a good chance of recognizing how their project is similar.
A project I recently finished had an excellently-chaired lessons Learned - the chair set the ground rule that the purpose of the exercise was to provide advice for successors rather . He insisted that the Lessons Learned were neither recorded so specifically that they would be situations that would never arise again, nor in such general terms that there is no practical recommendation.
If I ran a PMO, I think I would ask that Lessons learned were chaired and written up by a PM other than the PM who had managed the project. That should help put the focus on how to help future projects (and would also ensure that PMs got exposed to each others' projects - which can fail to happen otherwise). Saving Changes...
Digvijay SinghProject Manager| Mastek LimitedPune, India
Lessons learned have to be documented and checked during closure audit of the project. This practice is must for CMMI assessed organizations.
I really feel disappointed to know that lessons learned documents once prepared never used in the future. The basic reason behind this is, it needs a tracking system to find out lessons learned of past similar projects when a new project starts. Just dumping documents will not provide any help to the organization.
I feel mostly IT organizations are matured enough to capture the lessons learned but doesn't go further and provide efficient tracking system to help project managers to utilize them in the similar new projects. Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Roxanne, excellent post and replies by all. I would only add that we are seeing many PMOs adopt a post-closing (or post phase-exit) Continuous Improvement process step in which Lessons Learned are developed a bit further and presented to the PMO in the form of actionable suggestions for improvement to both avoid repeat errors and/or do things better. Hence, rather than being documented, filed away, and forgotten, etc, the PMO is provided with actionable insight and advice by the PM and project team. The PMO, of course, can take action or not based upon strategy, timing, and other concerns, but at least the Lesson Learned has been "advanced" as opposed to merely documented and filed away, Great post and replies by all. I hope we hear and learn more from others, Saving Changes...
