Lesson 6: Managing Your Project: Part 2
Step 9: Lessons Learned
I am a lessons learned fanatic, and I think it is one of the finest trends that has been cultivated by the culture of project management. I’d like to give particular credit to the Project Management Institute for really taking a position to enhance this awareness in project managers (they have even evolved their Project Management Professional exam to emphasize the importance of the lessons learned concept).
A lessons learned takes everything that has been learned -- both good and bad – and articulates this information in an organized notebook or database. Each various work unit should be invited to contribute to this process, because each will likely have a different approach to what went right, and what went wrong.
The ultimate purpose of the lessons learned document is to guide future projects, and build on the experience that has been earned by your project. It is also, I might add, a truly wonderful therapeutic tool that helps validate some of the tougher times you endured during your project, for your story may help future Project Managers avoid incurring similar wounds. It is often during the lessons learned step that Project Managers really feel a sense of community within the culture of project management.
Share your lessons learned with the entire team, but don’t editorialize. If you think that senior management should have done a better job, demonstrate objectively what you mean by this, and this experience might improve a future project. I have dealt with Project Managers who have taken it upon themselves to use the lessons learned document to rile against their political foes, and the result of this was that the team refused to accept it, and as a result the Project Manager in this example truly damaged his credibility (and deserved to, in my opinion).
So don’t launch into a tirade in the lessons learned. If you have some important issues you want to give voice to, write a column, create a web page, apply to write at Suite101.com, or write a book. But don’t use the lessons learned for this. Please.
References used in this section (these books are available for order via the Resources link above):
The Project Manager’s Desk Reference, by James P. Lewis. Chapter 2.
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, by the Project Management Institute. Chapter 10.
