We are currently spending a lot of time revisiting LL. Is this really necessary? Can't we just go blindly on, feeeling what we have from the past and executing quicker....?
Mel BostHead Project Closeout and Lessons Learned Advisory Services Practice| BOT InternationalCave Creek, Az, United States
Going blind is old time thinking when it comes to project management. Give yourself every opportunity to succeed by at least gettinng the "perspectives" of past project people on similar projects and topics. You will be glad you did. Nothing hurts worse than repeating a bad episode from a recent project that everyone is already aware of. Saving Changes...
Ismail MuhammadPlanning Engineer| Olayan DesconJubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia
Really an important issue and most of the respondents have raised valid points. I want to highlight the phrase " just go blindly on, feeeling what we have from the past and executing quicker" What you call the feeling of the past is also LL though unconsciously but if you put your previous experience orderly and in proper way it becomes a clear guideline for future Saving Changes...
Michelle StronachProject Management and IT Governance Consultant| M.L. Stronach Project Consulting, Inc.Pickering, Ontario, Canada
I also agree with Kevin in this thread. Lessons learned is only good if you actually take and do something about it. With the PMO I lead, I separate the individual (i.e., what the PM learned) from corporate learning. All corporate learning is captured in a Sharepoint List that categorizes the lessons by PM knowledge area and project lifecycle phase. Each lesson also has an action associated on how the organization as a whole can benefit from the lessons. For example, if the lesson was about the importance of defining objectives, the action might be to update the charter guidelines. Saving Changes...
Renee GalligherIT Project Manager 3, PMP, ICP| Idaho State Board of EducationMeridian, Id, United States
Define "a lot of time". In most cases, Lessons Learned should be every other week or at major milestones. When you come back to revisit the "do better", or "needs improving" sections, there should be measurable positive results otherwise, those that aren't, then they would need revisiting. But if you keep bringing up the same problems over and over with each LL, then there is a problem with the approach and application of the lesson by the PM or project coordinator. Saving Changes...
Robert, Lessons Learnt are great pieces of information to have before hand for furture projects, especially if the Projects Size is LARGE/HUGE in terms of its Scope, High Allocation of Resources, Delivery Priorities, the cost of the Project (TCO) and the most important part "Return from the Project Investments".
What you need to decide is whether carryiing out the LL activity is significant to the project in hand, in terms of its SIZE, TIME Invested, RETURNS from the Project and Stakeholder perceptions towards the LL. Saving Changes...
Robert, it's nice to jump start and get the job done faster. But failing to plan is planning to fail. And you would be surprised how many times you can repeat the same mistakes or fall into the same traps. LL are valuable. Saving Changes...
Bruce HarphamEditor & Author| ProjectManagementHacks.comToronto, Ontario, Canada
Part of the reason Lessons Learned are avoided is that they focus exclusively on learning from mistakes.
Holding these sessions (and having people look forward to them) would go better if people knew it was a BLEND of "what went well" and "what can be done better." Saving Changes...
Laura OdenthalPM III| Ahtna Facility Services inc.Carmichael, Ca, United States
Lessons learned can be a very valuable tool and I agree that we need to consider those things that went well just as we need to asses those things that caused scope creep or other project failures. Saving Changes...
arlene trimbleAssistant IT Director| Local GovernmentAlamo, Ca, United States
A team with life long learners is an asset in the organization as the team members would continually learn from previous experience. If lessons learned becomes too boring, the facilitator can employ a variety of ways or tools to help improve the lessons learned session. Saving Changes...
