Celebration And Reflection

Ever Jean A. Javillo Editha Ention Master in Management

Project Management Dr. John Calamiong

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Lessons Learned Reports

Someone said, Anyone can make a mistake, only a fool repeats it.

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Purpose:
The purpose of the Lessons Learned Report is to bring together any lessons learned during the project that can be usefully applied to other projects. At the close of the project it is completed and prepared for dissemination. As a minimum, lessons learned should be captured at the end of each stage of the project; ideally a note should be made of any good or bad point that arises in the use of the management and specialist products and tools at the time.

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Fitness for purpose checklist:

Has every management control has been examined?  Have all the reasons for all the tolerance deviations and corrective actions been recorded?  Is input to the lessons learned log being done (as a minimum) at the end of each stage?  Is there an analysis of the success of quality reviews and other types of test used?

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Suggested contents (lessons learned)

The Lessons Learned Report should contain:
went badly
 Which

management and quality processes:

went lacking went well

A

description of any abnormal events causing deviations from plans.

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WHAT WENT BADLY



    

When completing this section, you should dig deeper than just describe what went badly. Ask (and answer) all the key questions: Process Name (that went badly) What exactly went wrong (provide a detailed narrative) Why did it go wrong (your analysis) Is it worth fixing? Cost/benefit analysis. If so, how do we fix it? How do we stop it from happening again?

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WHAT WENT WELL

 You

may have notices Ive switched the order of these three sections to put what went well at the end. Typically I find managers want to know the bad news first - what went wrong, what could hurt them, or who they should be hurting. Plus its always nice to end on a positive

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WHAT WERE LACKING

    

Identify what processes were lacking. Process Name (that was lacking) What exactly was lacking? Why is it lacking? If missing, refer to standard or previous experience to justify its inclusion How do we put it in place?

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Here is your chance to document the events that had a direct and tangible impact on your project plan, budget and timeline resulting in a deviation from your initial agreed plan. The events are as varied as they are random. Some examples could be unseasonal weather, CEO shock retirement, market crash, power failure, virus attack or even something as simple as a stock recall. While listing your abnormal events, dont forget to address the following considerations. How did it impact your project? Time, cost, quality. Why wasnt it considered as a risk and mitigated? How can it be avoided next time?

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An assessment of technical methods and tools used. Recommendations for future enhancement or modification of the project management method. Useful measurements on how much effort was required to create the various products. Notes on effective and ineffective quality reviews and other tests, including reasons why they worked well or badly.

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Problems at the End of the Project



Behavioral
Project Team Fear of no more work Staff seem to go slow Loss of interest Loss of team identity Reassignment issue Team gets raided Client Loss of interest Change of key person

Technical Problems
Internal Identification of remaining deliverables Outstanding commitments Control of changes Closure of work orders Identification of project personnel Client As above + audit trails Seeking agreement

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Source information:

 Observation

and experience of the processes

 Completed

work packages of stage plans with what actually happened

 Comparisons

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Notes:
The Lessons Learned Report should be viewed as information that can be shared (although sometimes areas may have to be kept confidential) as well as what would be valuable for future projects to the form of recommendations on any enhancements or modifications. At the start of a new project, previous Lessons Learned Reports should be reviewed to consider how lessons learnt from previous projects could be applied to the project. The data in the report should be used by a corporate group, such as quality assurance, who are responsible for the quality management system, in order to refine, change and improve the standards. Measures of how much effort was needed for products can help improve future estimating.

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Why it's useful

 Lessons

learned meetings are your best weapon for implementing continuous improvement. These reviews give everyone a chance to freely discuss the good and bad aspects of the project so that good practices are repeated and bad practices are eliminated.

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How to use it
Lessons Learned meetings should be held at or near the end of a project, and can also be useful at key interim points during longer projects, such as after the planning phase in a major project. The entire core team attends these reviews. Key functional managers may sit in but should not impede the process.

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Cont..
 Review

project results by asking questions like did we do what we said we would in terms of meeting cost, schedule, and quality goals? were the cost issues, feature issues, schedule issues?

 What

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Process points:


Have the project manager prepare project overview materials before the lessons learned meeting. Make sure that all key cross-functional team members can attend the scheduled meeting. Many project insights come from issues with interaction between groups; a great deal of important knowledge can be revealed if you have all the core team members at the meeting. Start the meeting with a brief overview of the project schedule. What were the planned completion dates for each phase of the project, and what really happened? Can the team identify and summarize why a particular phase end date slipped?
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CONCLUSION


The success and failures of the project process, the technical aspects and the managerial processes are examined by the project team, by the customer and sponsors. The focus is on recommending ways to improve future project performance. Lessons learned are best accumulated through the course of the project and provide valuable team-building exercises.

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Closing Phase/Lessons Learned Reports

Thank you for listening.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

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