How to Perform A Lessons Learned Session With Your Project Team

1
How to Perform A Lessons Learned Session With
Your Project Team
2
Overview

• 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

3
What is a Lessons Learned 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.

4
Why 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

5
Why is Lessons Learned Left Out

• Moving on to the next project
• Fear of finger pointing
• Misunderstanding the value of Lessons Learned

6
Preventing Lessons Learned from being Skipped

• Put it on the project plan
• Allocate sufficient time and resources on the
  project plan
• Be vigilant about avoiding finger-pointing

7
Who 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 didnt go well in front of
  this person

8
Lessons 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

9
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

10
How to perform Lessons Learned

• Gather
• Compile
• Present
• Distribute

11
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

12
Praise 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 statement
• Continue to list the things that can be improved
  until everyone is satisfied
• Next, list all problems that were out of your
  control.

13
Prevent 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

14
Out 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

15
Compile

• 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.

16
Compile Continued

• Even if your company doesnt 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 groups
  thoughts into writing helps you dig down into
  root causes and document solutions

17
Present

• 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.

18
Distribute

• 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.

19
Lessons Learned Process Flow
20
Implementing Lessons Learned

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

21
Tips 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

22

• Lessons Learn
• A 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
23

• Thank You