Lessons Learned About Lessons Learned
Just got off of a lessons learned conference call for a volunteer project that I participated in. The project was run by the local chapter of the Project Management Institute and therefore benefitted from having several professional project managers on the team. The project was a success and everyone was happy with the outcome. The last component of the project was to conduct a lessons learned meeting. This call was a relatively quick call, but it served as a nice closure point for a successful project.
I am sure most project managers have participated in their share of lessons learned meetings, but how many of you have actually thought about the rationale for those meetings. Below are some of the questions that came into my mind as I prepared for tonight’s meeting.
What is the purpose of a lessons learned meeting?
A lessons learned meeting (also known as a project post-mortem) is designed to help the project team learn from their project so that they can improve their performance on future projects. The meeting can also serve as a bonding experience for the team as they get to feel the sense of accomplishment for completing the project.
How can a team analyze their project?
The most common method of analyzing the project is to ask the following questions during the lessons learned meeting:
- What happened during the project?
- What did we do well during this project?
- What can we do better next time?
What does answering these questions do for the project team since all projects are by definition unique?
While it is true that all projects are unique, they all tend to share common components. Project teams often work on similar projects for the company or clients. Finding ways to improve their daily operations can help future projects run smoother.
What can you do to help make the lessons learned meeting a success?
To facilitate the lessons learned meeting, you should do the follow:
- Prepare for the meeting
- Send an agenda to the project team – this will allow the team to begin their processing of the project prior to the meeting
- Conduct the meeting
- Welcome the team.
- Introduce the lessons learned process.
- Put the team at ease. Make sure they understand that the purpose of the meeting is to improve future projects, not to judge individuals.
- Ask the questions and elicit responses from all team members.
- Close the meeting and thank the team for their time and effort.
- Document the meeting
- Create and distribute meeting minutes
Who benefits from the lessons learned process?
Everyone who is a stakeholder benefits from a lessons learned process:
- Project manager – learns potential pitfalls to avoid during the next project
- Project team – can devise process improvements that will help future projects
- Client/Sponsor – gets more insight into the process and the future improvements they will benefit from
Remember, the lessons learned meeting is one of the most valuable meetings during the project for you and your team. Take the time to ensure that it is a successful one and do not overlook it because the major deliverables of your project have already been delivered.
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