Apr 19, 2023

How to Perform A Lessons How to Perform A Lessons Learned Session With Your Learned Session With Your

Project TeamProject Team

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OverviewOverview

What is a lessons learned Session Why Capture Lessons Learned Who Should be Invited Lessons Learned Formats How to Perform the Lessons Learned Listen and Praise Out of our Control List How to prevent Lessons Learned from

Becoming a Finger Pointing Session Debriefing Project Sponsors

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What is a Lessons Learned What is a Lessons Learned Session?Session? A lessons learned session is a post-project meeting

with the entire project team to review various aspects of the recently completed project.

Capturing lessons learned is the process of gathering, documenting and analyzing feedback on events that happened during a project for the benefit of other project teams in the future.

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Why Capture Lessons LearnedWhy Capture Lessons Learned

Purpose of Lessons Learned The purpose of this meeting is to document lessons so that

subsequent projects can benefit from that knowledge.

It brings closure to the project Provides an opportunity for team members, sponsors and

stakeholders to discuss successes that happened during or because of the project

Assists with identifying other things that, in retrospect, might have been better handled if done differently

Provides recommendations to others who might be involved in future projects of a similar type

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Why is Lessons Learned Left Why is Lessons Learned Left OutOut Moving on to the next project Fear of finger pointing Misunderstanding the value of Lessons Learned

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Preventing Lessons Learned from Preventing Lessons Learned from being Skippedbeing Skipped Put it on the project plan Allocate sufficient time and resources on the

project plan Be vigilant about avoiding finger-pointing

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Who should be invitedWho should be invited

Who should be invited to take part? The entire project team

This also includes contractors and team members who work off-site

The client The project sponsor

Advantage: The sponsor can sign any closing documentation

Disadvantage: Project team might be reluctant to discuss things that didn’t go well in front of this person

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Lessons Learned FormatsLessons Learned Formats

A popular format for discussing and documenting project lessons learned is to create a matrix of characteristics. What was good What was bad or needs to be improved What was beyond your control

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Lessons Learned Formats Cont’Lessons Learned Formats Cont’

Create a Checklist A checklist may contain the following categories :

- Project Planning- Project Execution and Delivery- Human Factors- Overall Project Management

Lessons Learned Log Assists with tracking the Lessons Learned Assists with tracking throughout the project

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How to perform Lessons How to perform Lessons LearnedLearned Gather Compile Present Distribute

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Gathering Gathering

Gather Distribute the document for each team member to fill out Organize meeting to discuss teams responses

Perform the actual debrief like this: Get someone to act as scribe to write comments on a

white board, overhead or flipchart so everyone can see. If you have a computer and projector available, record

comments directly into the computer for easy transcription and file sharing later.

Each team member is asked to name something that went well in the project, and these items are recorded

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Praise and ListenPraise and Listen

Give everyone a pat on the back after all the good stuff has been posted

Now give everyone a chance to say what they thought needed to be improved

Confirm each person statementContinue to list the things that can be

improved until everyone is satisfiedNext, list all problems that were out of

your control.

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Prevent Finger PointingPrevent Finger Pointing

How can we prevent this lessons learned session from becoming a finger-pointing session? If you suspect this could happen, ask your team members

to create individual lists of items in each category and forward them to you ahead of the meeting

You then take these lists and compile them into a master list that is presented at the meeting

Depersonalize all comments and discuss all issues rationally

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Out of our ControlOut of our Control

What about items that appear on the “out of our control” list? Any items in this list should be added to the risk

management plan for subsequent projects. Consider these items in future contingency plans

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CompileCompile

Compile Most organizations require a final status report that

summarizes the entire project. In some companies, conducting the lessons learned

session and writing the project summary report are considered part of the project.

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Compile ContinuedCompile Continued

Even if your company doesn’t require a summary report, you should write one because: It provides you and other project managers with a convenient

overview of the project It forces you to perform a final project analysis It can be a terrific sales tool for future projects It can serve as good review for you and your team Short window of opportunity to do something positive for

yourself and your organization Writing clarifies thinking; putting the group’s thoughts into

writing helps you dig down into root causes and document solutions

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PresentPresent

Upper management needs to be aware of both the successes and failures of each project and the lessons learned from both. This step also allows upper management to provide their

own feedback to the information provided and to "sign off" that the right information has been captured and is being utilized to help with future projects.

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DistributeDistribute

Distribute Lessons Learn Summary

All project managers are greatly encouraged to read each document and to consider how each of the lessons learned could be applied to their own projects. Any questions regarding the information provided can be addressed either verbally or via email to the PM in charge of the project being discussed.

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Lessons Learned Process FlowLessons Learned Process Flow

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Implementing Lessons LearnedImplementing Lessons Learned

Appling Lessons Learned to Future Projects Project Planning Project Execution and Delivery Human Factors Overall Project Management

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Tips and TricksTips and Tricks

Lessons learned can provide the current and future project with a wealth of information. Consider the following: Continually recording & documenting learning

lessons Host some lessons learned meetings Set your scope Share the results  Sensitivity

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Lessons LearnLessons Learn

A TUSC PMO PresentationA TUSC PMO Presentation

References: Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK Guide). 3rd Edition, Project Management Institute, Pennsylvania, USA, Nov 2004

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Thank You