I am u juniro pm @ a university and i am a junior pm for a server and client migration. My company doesnt uses prince2 although i thing they should because projects fail, I did read a lot about the healthcheck and the lessons learned but i need some advice. How can i analyse a healcheck into a lessons learned? Are there examples available cause i dont have a clue how to write a lessons learned and what to put in it.
thanks in advance Saving Changes...
Stuart DixonProject Office Manager| Xl CatlinCrowbrough, United Kingdom
I think that you may be confusing the 2 items. A healthcheck is a review of the status of the project/programme now. Much like you may go to the doctors for a checkup. The recommendations coming out of a health check can be incorporated into the way that the project works leading to a successful outcome. Again going back to the docotors analogy this would be the same as acting on the doctors recommendation to change your lifestyle in order to live longer.
A lessons learned on the other hand happens after a project has finished (or in Prince terms after a stage has finished). These lessons learned can then be used on other projects. Going back to doctor analogy, a lessons learnt is more akin to an autoposy. It won;t help the person being examined, but if the causes are understood that learning may help others.
After having got that distinction out of the way then some of the questions you may ask in both healthchecks & lessons learnt are the same. I would suggest this should focus on the following broad areas:
* Organisation - is the project structured right to deliver
* Sponsorship - Is the project supported - this is not a focus on the sponsor, but also for the user & project communities as well
* Deliverables - Are they 'fit for purpose', are they produced, are they approved
* People - is the team working well together
* Planning - Do you have one, does it relate to what is being done
* Scope - Is this project delivering what it said it would
* Budget/Finances - Will the project deliver for its money
* Quality - is this project delivering expected quality
I am sure there are others, and I have seen checklists galore on this subject, but what most lessons learnt I have seen focus too heavily on is what went wrong, without asking what can be done to fix this, and never asking what went well.
I would also focus on the people in the project, after all it is people that deliver projects not process or tools, and sometimes the checklists I have seen miss this point entirely. Saving Changes...
