Revision as of 20:14, 15 September 2016

Lessons learned is a cost-effective project management tool that aims to bring together any insight gained during a specific project, which can be usefully applied in future projects. ^[1].Lessons learned is a mean to learn what went wrong and what went right in a given project and build on this knowledge aquired in order to improve future projects. According to Project Management Institute (PMI), project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to meet project requirements and objectives. ^[2]. The challenging task of managing projects can somewhat be aided through the usage of the tool, Lessons learned. Project Management Institute (PMI) defines lessons learned as the learning gained from the process of performing the project. ^[3].

Figure 1: Lessons learned - a knowledge management tool (Soruce: Elmshøj, Line)

Lessons learned is part of Knowledge Management </ref>, which is defined as^[4].:

"managing the corporation's knowledge through a systematically and organizationally specified process for acquiring, organizing, sustaining, applying, sharing and renewing both the tacit and explicit knowledge of employees to enhance organizational performance and create value"

Lessons learned is spawned from the knowledge management process, Knowledge Sharing, as lessons learned indeed is a mean to sharing knowledge. Knowledge sharing covers both explicit knowledge (codified knowledge e.g. found in documents), tacit knowledge (intuitive knowledge and know-how) and embedded knowledge (knowledge locked in processes, products, cultures etc.) and lessons learned can be used to communicate either type of knowledge and is hence not bounded to one type, but will probably tend to focus on explicit and at times embedded knowledge. It is however important that lessons learned covers all types of knowledge obtained within the project in order to make the sharing optimal.^[5]

Lessons learned is not a new term in the world of project management, but is however often a neglected one. The downsizing of the usage of lessons learned in projects seem conflicting with the importance of what can be gained from an effective lessons learned. An effective lessons Learned process should prevent the organisation from repeating its mistakes and allow it to repeat its successes. It should be an instrumental part of any organization’s overall continuous improvement” proces. ^[6]

The article starts out by providing a brief introduction to lessons learned and its role in a project management framework. Further, the application of the tool is presented; firstly by describing the methodology and then as an example application. The article lastly moves on to discussing the benefits and limitations linked to lessons learned.

Overview

Introduction

Project management is becoming a more and more integral part of every organisation - spanning different countries, areas and sectors - in order to improve projects. Many organisations base their project management methods on the project management methodology, PRINCE2. PRINCE2 (PRojects In Controlled Environments, version 2) is a framework that provides guidelines that encompasses quality management, control and organisation of a project with consistency and review to align with project objectives. ^[7].

PRINCE2 is process-driven project management methodology, which builds on seven principles/processes that defines project management:

Figure 2: The PRINCE2 Process Model. The closing principle encomppases Lessons Learned (Edited by Elmshøj, Line) ^[8]

1. Starting up a project (SU)
2. Initiating a project (IP)
3. Directing a project (DP)
4. Controlling a stage (CS)
5. Managing product delivery (MD)
6. Managing stage boudaries (SB)
7. Closing a project (CP)

Projects are parts of organisations everywhere, anytime and occurs in different sizes, durations and complexity levels. Often, a lot of the work is focused on the initiating of the project as well as the execution of the project - however, at least as important is the closing of the project. The closing of a project concludes the project, the project should formally be decommissioned. The key activities of the closing the project is listed below. ^[9]

• Decomissioning a project
• Identifying follow-on actions
• Preparing af benefits review plan
• Project evaluation

Decomissioning the project basically means that the project needs to be formally closed as in to avoid letting the project going on internally, identifying follow-on actions are actions that needs to be carried on after the completion of the project. Prepapring the benefits review plan is a plan for when the benefits of the project ought to be measured and how and what resources are needed, and finally project evaluation is where the project is evaluated; pros and cons are listed and improvements for future projects can be listed. This can be accomplished by utilising the lessons learned tool. CONTINUE? Something about lessons learned not necessarily only at the closing process - can be performed at all stages in the project.

Application

Methodology

The Lessons Learned is not a fixed method, but rather depends on the temper and environment of the organisation hence the format and syntax may vary from organisation to organisation. However, following the PRINCE2 methodology, a lessons learned template is provided. It should be noted that the template is in no way prescribed and the various organisations are encouraged to develop their own template which includes the necessary fields/themes in order to improve projects specific to that organisation. An example is provided in the article.

Figure 3: Template for lessons learned log (Source: PRINCE2) ^[10]

The template provided by PRINCE2 is a very generic template, but yet covers the utter most important aspect of lessons learned; the subjects that went well and wrong and regarding recommendations. It is of course CONTINUE ADD SOMETHING ABOUT THE SETTINGS - FACETOFACE IS BEST ETC.

WHO SHOULD PARTICAPTE + steps collecting, validating, storing, disseminating, and reuse

Example of Lessons Learned

In order to concretise how an application of lessons learned can be carried out, an illustrative example application is provided in figure 4. The example is based on a case project revolving collaboration amongst Danish municipalities in order to create a common payment system and is fictional example, however a realistic suggestion for a project where lessons learned could be applied.

It should be notified that the colours highlighten the identification, ID, are used to represent a red = negative implication in the project from which lessons were learned to conduct in an improved/optimised way, and green = positive experience in the project from which lessons were learned to successfully apply to other projects. Organisations have a tendency to focus on only the negative implication the project carried on its way, but it is important not to forget the positive experiences as well. The positive experiences are just as important as these are means to continue great methods, tools etc. The organisation does not need to reinvent everything and start from scratch every time a new project is started.

CONTINUE? Repeat -not all projects needs this - essential, minimalistic vs. thorough?

If people were stymied by complex document formats, try preparing and pre-testing some document templates that will be much easier to use next time

Lessons learned aftermath -another word for aftermath

Ensuring sharing the lessons learned

As described earlier, lessons learned is spawned from knowledge sharing. Once the lessons learned has been conducted, it is important it is also shared otherwise it will just be a waste of resources conducting it. It is further important to make sure the workers/users actually utilise the tool to future projects so knowledge does not go to waste.

Currently a lot of tools exist to aid the knowledge sharing process, these include ^[11]  :

• Groupware Systems

Groupware systems is basically technology designed to help people collaborate. These include communication tools, conferencing tools and collaborative management tools. These tools are probably best applied in regard to conducting the lessons learned if participants cannot meet.

• Intranet and Extranet

Many organisations use intranets to inform employees of both formal and informal news as it works as small-scale version of the internet - often only accessible by employees. The intranet allows for multimedia collaboration and can hence function as a platform for groupware applications. The intranet can function as a place to store lessons learned - but probably not for every project. It might be most beneficial focusing on perhaps having a best practice summarization of the lessons learned throughout time, across different projects as many companies use the intranet as a one-way communication channel rather than a collaboration platform.

The extranet is an expanded version of the intranet including the organisation's external network. Depending on the security level, it might again be beneficial to keep the sharing of the lessons learned to a minimum and as a maximum have them illustrated through best-practice.

• Content Management Systems

Content Management Systems are responsible for creating, managing and distributing the content, the knowledge on different media; intranet, extranet and websites. If lessons learned is included on either the intranet or extranet (or both), the content management system becomes an essential tool in making this happen and should be taken into consideration. It is not advised to distribute lessons learned to the organisation's website, as this is a public forum.

• Document Management Systems

Document Management Systems are probably the most essential tool in sharing knowledge learned from lessons learned. A document management system aid in publishing, storage, indexing and retrieval of documents. Documentation management systems are often part of content management systems and mostly deal with explicit knowledge. Document management systems are essential to an organisation as it deals with a lot of projects thus the need for a useful system keeping track of the enormous volume of documents provided through the various projects hence making it quite useful for distributing/sharing lessons learned as well. The tool allows for structured and organised projects, so it ought to be easy to implement a feature for lessons learned or to just add a folder, file or the like to the specific project. If the document management system allows for grouping of or advanced searching for projects with similar characteristics it even eases the process of retrieving lessons learned relevant for certain future projects with the same characteristics.

The tools mentioned are mostly focused on sharing ALSO SHARING TACIT KNOWLEDGE - through conversations, informal meetings etc.

Record, Categorise, Communicate, Encourage use of database, data review, continually improve processes

Benefits and limitations

Lessons learned is a great tool for enabling knowledge sharing in project management as highlighted in this article. However, it is not a perfect tool and does bring some difficulties into the projects. The greatest benefits and limitations are listed below.

Benefits

• Continuous improvement of projects

Lessons learned is tool that can aid projects in preventing repeating mistakes and allowing repeating of successes. If an effective lessons learned process is carried out consistently this will create a continous improvement of projects provided the lessons learned is shared and utilised across the organisation's projects.

• Long-term cost-effectice project management tool

By continously recording and sharing mistakes and successes of various projects, it allows the organisation long-term to save costs as similar projects can can utilise the lessons learned and start from "step 2" or "step 3" rather than "step 0" thus taking precautions from the beginning rather than corrective actions as the project moves along.

• Proper closing of a project

Many projects keeps going in the uncertainty and are still passively active. Lessons learned ensures the project does not continue internally - it is formally decomissioned with the evaluation or lessons learned.

• Cross-functional perspectives

Many projects are carried out with a team consisting of different employees spanning functions and hierarchy. By conducting lessons learned with the project-team (possible additional stakeholders may be included if the project manager and/or team decides upon it), different perspectives are brought into play and increases the likelihood of covering all necessary and relevant areas.

• MORE?1

Limitations

• Lack of willingness and engagement from particpants

Lessons learned heavily depends on the participating employees. If the employees are firstly not willing to participate and secondly engaged in contribute, the lessons learned will not be conducted optimally, if at all, and contributions may not be useful.

• Lack of management involvement and support

As with lack of willingess and engagement from participant, if the project manager does not fully commit to conducting the best possible lessons learned, he/she might as well not. This is one of the most critical barriers as it is the project manager's responsibility to ensure the lessons learned is filled out. Without the manager's support it is quite likely that the project team neither will support the need for lessons learned - if they are even aware of its existence.

• Capturing all types of knowledge

It is definitely easier capturing explicit knowledge (and embedded knowledge), but that does not mean tacit knowledge should be excluded from the lessons learned - there will however be a challenge in codifying the knowledge and making it understandable for all employees.

• Lack of time

Lessons learned is resource-heavy tool that requires a lot of time. Further - the employees in an organisation are typically engaged in many projects simultaneously hence if a project is delayed they might prioritize going straight to other projects after the closing of a project rather than spending time on lessons learned. It is therefore crucial that management clearly sets aside time for lessons learned.

• Lack of clear guidelines

It is important that the participants are well-instructed in how to conduct the lessons learned. Lessons learned is not supposed to be a cornucopia of knowledge hence it is the project manager's responsibility to ensure that it is only the important and relevant lessons that are included. It might however be a difficult task to differ between relevant and irrelevant knowledge.

• Lack of storage

Once the lessons learned has been conducted it might be tempting to just close the project and put away the lessons learned in a random location. This does not work if the lessons learned are to be used by other employees for future projects. It is therefore important that the project manager makes sure to store the lessons learned in a relevant location that is easily available and accessible.

• Lack of sharing

Once the lessons learned has been store, it is natural for the employees and project manager to think that the project is finally closed and will then discard the project and move on to the next one. However - this is not the case because if lessons learned is to be fully utilised it needs to be communicated to other employees in order for them to know they exists. The storage of the lessons learned plays a key role for easy access, but the sharing of existence and advice of which lessons learned might be useful for other projects is just as important.

Alternative approach

The appreciative inquiry. Paper: Appreciating Lessons Learned.

Annotated Bibliography

For further reading on the subject or related subjects, the reader is encouraged to check out the following:

Books:

Zbigniew, R.W., Foundations of Intelligent Systems,12th International Symposium, ISMIS 2000, Springer, Chapter 5A, ISBN 3-540-41094-5

Short description

The book covers lessons learned in regard to an intelligent lessons learned process. The book is recommended for readers interested in getting a more in depth description of both knowledge management as well as lessons learned processes - both in terms of theoretical terminology as well as example applications.

Articles and Web-pages:

Marlin, M. (2008), Implementing an effective lessons learned process in a global project management environment, ^[12] , UTD 2nd Annual Project Management Symposium Proceedings –Dallas, Texas.

The article describes barriers for performing lessons learned and how to overcome these.

Knowledge Management Tools, KMT, Last visited 15-09-2016

A website providing the reader with all aspects of knowledge management - including knowledge sharing and tools to overcome the difficulty over knowledge sharing both in regard to explicit and tacit knowledge. The website gives a great overview for the novel reader of knowledge management.

Doule, F. (2009), Knowledge sharing: an index of terminological specificity, MEDES, Lyon, France

The article describes how to deal with controlled diffusion of knowledge; sharing knowledge whilst ensuring the quality of the knowledge and how to understand the diffused knowledge unambiguously. The article then proposes an index of terminological specialty.

Project Smart [1] Project Management: Lessons from the perfect science - hindsight

The webpage gives great examples of lessons learned as provided by senior managers and executives. It is a great opportunity for the reader to get an overview of some of the most common, generic pitfalls projects bring and what lessons learned can do.

Case Studies and Research: FIND SOME!!!!!

Author (year) [webpage Title]

Short descriptions

References

1. ↑ [https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/lessons-learned.php] Project Smart, Last visited 13-09-2016
2. ↑ Project Management Institute. (2008). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. 4th Edition. p. 6. USA. ISBN 9781933890517
3. ↑ http://www2a.cdc.gov/cdcup/library/pmg/implementation/ll_description.html Project Management Institute, Project Management Body of Knowledge, Last visited 13-09-2016
4. ↑ Davenport, T.H., Prusak, L., Successful knowledge management projects Sloan Management Review 39 (2), p. 43-57
5. ↑ [http://www.knowledge-management-tools.net/different-types-of-knowledge.html] Types of Knowledge, Knowledge Management Tools, Last visited 14-09-2016
6. ↑ Westney Consulting Group 2014 Implementing an Effective Lessons Learned Process in a Global Project Environment. Mark Marlin PMP Sr. Vice President, Article. Available online here
7. ↑ https://www.axelos.com/best-practice-solutions/prince2 PRINCE2 Official Website, Last visited 13-09-2016
8. ↑ Wikipedia. The PRINCE2 Process Model. Last visited 13-09-2016
9. ↑ Pr. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRINCE2. PRINCE2 Closing principle. Last visited 14-09-2016
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2} XLS-file, choose hit no. 3 The PRINCE2 Template for Lessons Learned. Last visited 14-09-2016
11. ↑ ['http://www.knowledge-management-tools.net/knowledge-management-tools.html] Knowledge Management Tools, Last visited 14-09-2016
12. ↑ Marlin, M. (2008). Implementing an effective lessons learned process in a global project environment. UTD 2nd Annual Project Management Symposium Proceedings –Dallas, Texas. Available Online