The purpose of lessons learnt is to capture insights gained during a project that can be usefully applied in the future. Run well, it will help future projects avoid making the same mistakes again and contribute towards developing a best practice approach. Completing a lessons learnt sounds like a very straightforward and beneficial thing to do. But why are very few projects reviewed properly upon completion?
Businesses and project teams usually move quickly from project to project, and capturing lessons learned is often overlooked Lessons learnt are sometimes seen as an opportunity to criticise and expose individual failures – especially where the project has been problematic or not quite met expectations. A lot of manoeuvring goes on to postpone or avoid a project lessons learnt review. Done well, lessons learnt will give your project team and the wider business real insight.
Here are nine top tips on how to conduct a valuable lessons learnt:
1. Don’t put it off – make sure you run a lessons learnt review quickly after project completion so the relevant project team members (and don’t forget the customer) are still around and memories are fresh.
2. Get the right people around the table – make sure all elements of the project are represented, including project team members, key stakeholders including the project sponsor and a selection of end users.
3. Use an independent facilitator – an independent facilitator can keep the review objective, cut through politics and ensure everyone is able to speak up and share learning.
4. Provide a clear structure – break the review down into clear areas to ensure all aspects of the project are addressed, such as governance, planning, people, processes, IT, communications and benefits
5. Be open – remember that even the most successful projects have lessons from which to learn – so speak up!
6. Don’t focus on just the negatives – as well as learning from mistakes, make sure the positives and good practice are also discussed – use lessons learnt as an opportunity to celebrate some of the project successes too!
7. Capture the outputs– make sure your outputs are captured in the right way – they need to be objective, focused on how to apply the learning and visually engaging. In busy project environments, long reports or spreadsheets will not be read. Infographics are a great way to bring it to life and make it stick.
8. Apply the learning– work out how each individual is going to apply this insight, to mitigate falling back into old ways of working.
9. Communicate- make sure the key learning and insight is communicated to the relevant stakeholders – hindsight on a previous project will be foresight on the next.
