Lessons Learned log in project management

This opportunity to share lessons learned from practice to date should be shared with the company's top management and even in some cases with the owner for approval. 

After presenting the idea of ​​sharing this important experience to all project managers in the organization, one should understand the meaning of the shared experience and what additional value it will bring to the work of all employees, as well as to the organization itself and its future.

Experience is the most valuable thing we possess. It guides us forward and enables us to gain new knowledge and gain more experience from it. It is a continuous cycle of enrichment and refinement.

Employees should not interrupt their development in an organization or company because this will cause them to lose their interest and work ethic. Each of the current employees comes to work with their experience and skills, which they apply and develop in our organization.

There comes a time when the project manager reaches a high level of knowledge and experience in a given organization. At this point, he stops gaining knowledge and experience in his work, and the work process becomes a boring routine.

This immediately leads to a loss of motivation and stuttering of work processes due to a loss of interest in the familiar old methods and practices of work. This is where I want to offer a solution to this inevitable problem in the work environment. The solution is as simple as it is effective, namely sharing lessons learned. The practice and experience of each project manager would be useful for everyone in the team.

Each person has a different point of view and prism of perception of a given situation. The sharing of practice and lessons learned from past projects will be important for the productivity of the team and its participants. This company culture would generate interest, case studies, and discussions. At the very least, it would lead to the unification and refinement of all shared practices and lessons learned, as well as their application in upcoming new projects. Reference: "Lessons Learned Log in project management", https://www.dobrojutro.net/lessons-learned-log-in-project-management/

How to integrate Lessons Learned Log practice?

We start with the welcome of the team. Next, we explain the purpose of the Lessons Learned Journal, which is that during the Lessons Learned meeting, everyone shares their perspective on what they thought about the project, what they would change, what they learned, and what could be done better. - good.

The process differs depending on the number of attendees.

When the meeting is held with the entire team, team members brainstorm ideas in small groups and then present the findings at the end of the meeting.

In a team with only a few attendees, everyone's conclusions will be discussed without the need for a presentation.

Then the rules of the meeting are explained. Attendees need to understand that they are supposed to be constructive, whether they like the project or not. Everyone is asked to give their feedback on the following questions:

• What was done well?
• What didn't go so well?
• What did you learn?

With a small team, Excel feedback is introduced. In a larger team, flip charts or whiteboards are usually used where team members write down their thoughts. Regardless of the tool, a 3-column structure is always used: column 1 = what went well, column 2 = what didn't go well, and column 3 = learnings.

All team members as well as the Project Manager participate in the process. 

Lessons Learned Log in the presence of a large team:

If the meeting is held with the entire project team, ask one or two representatives of the team to present the results in a summarized form. They will briefly review all notes and talk about the most frequently mentioned points: Many team members said they were unhappy with the way the product training was done. One day's training was not enough, so people mentioned that they did not feel well prepared for the project. Reference: "Lessons Learned Log in Project Management Practices", https://60yearsnato.info/lessons-learned-log-in-project-management-practices/

Lessons Learned Log in the presence of a small team:

After team members record their feedback on Excel, the writing is discussed and the meeting is closed. Thank the attendees for their participation. The reason the feedback is needed is stated: "I will consider your feedback to improve our future projects, especially when it comes to <specific criticism>."

The Lessons Learned Journal is a very important part of the Lessons Learned process. The purpose of today's meeting is to discuss the need for the Lessons Learned Journal. During the meeting, everyone will be able to share their perspective on what they thought about the project, what they would change, what they learned, and what could be done better.

The lessons learned log focuses on identifying project success and project failures and includes recommendations for improving future project performance. Lessons learned can also be used to reduce the planned duration of projects. Reviewing management, regulatory, commercial, legal, and technical lessons have been proven to achieve great monetary returns.

Additionally, organizations can use lessons learned databases to capture information about the project schedule, cost, and scope, in addition to using this knowledge to create estimates based on past project costs. Management must support the learning process by requiring everyone in the organization to follow the lessons learned processes. Reference: "Lessons Learned Log Example in Project Management", https://www.polyscm.com/lessons-learned-example-in-project-management/

Some organizations choose to complete the lessons learned in the post-project review. Post-project reviews capture process knowledge about the project that will be useful for future projects. Many development projects fall short of schedule and budget as well as customer needs. Re-applying important lessons to prevent future mistakes is the main reason organizations capture lessons learned.

To stay competitive, many organizations are running multiple projects simultaneously while trying to improve processes at the same time. One way to achieve a continuous improvement is by learning from past projects.

Newell has found that social networks work better than a database of lessons learned. It is important to capture both project successes and failures. Future projects can benefit by following the lessons learned that have been successful and avoiding the lessons that have failed.

Let's analyze the following questions:

• What did you think of the project?
• What would you change?
• What did you learn?
• What could be done better?

Retaining and analyzing lessons learned can reduce the risk of repeating the same mistakes over and over again. The lessons that are captured and analyzed should be the key project experiences that have some general business relevance for future projects.