Continual improvement

Projects are (by definition) unique undertakings with a finite delivery time, so continuous improvement is not really relevant to projects per se.

Yet individuals and organizations inevitably deliver multiple projects throughout their life, so the opportunity does exist to continually improve our project management practices.

Yep – this is the whole point of the forensic project review.

Nevertheless, too many organizations only complete project reviews as a compliance activity, in that they do it because their project framework or checklist says to do the review now so you can properly close the project.

Fewer actually take the lessons from project to project and genuinely implement them for measurable advantage. 

In other words, documenting lessons learned is one thing, actually learning the lessons is a separate process!

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Beyond review

Here are ten things you can do in your organization to ensure lessons are actually learned.

Lessons learned register

Why wait until your project is finished before capturing lessons learned?

Documenting lessons learned in real time ensures the countless ‘micro-learnings’ experienced throughout the project’s life are retained and fed forward into the reflection or review process.

Searchable archives

One basic thing any organization can do is file project reflections and reviews together with all the relevant project documents in a single, easily searchable repository. 

Searchability depends on a consistent and intuitive naming convention for files, and (ideally) a mature tagging system that embeds relevant, indexed meta-text about each project.

Peer review

Peer-reviewing your workmates’ projects is a great way to develop your own knowledge and skills, while simultaneously enabling a whole range of organizational benefits.

This complements the more obvious reflection, self-review, and independent audit processes described earlier in this Unit.

Publish findings

Share lessons learned in organizational communications, such as on noticeboards, in newsletters, and on the corporate intranet. This not only pushes knowledge to the project community, but makes a statement about the importance of lessons learned to your organization.

This can be done creatively by publishing features on individual team members, projects, and innovations, and it need not only be confined to internal media.

Organizations can also share their project learnings in industry and other relevant journals, magazines, and blogs.

Present findings

Reviewers should also be encouraged to present their findings to their colleagues, in the same way that the individual reflections of project managers should be shared on a regular basis. 

Lessons learned can also be a standing agenda item on project team meetings and dedicated professional development days.

Presentation, too, can extend beyond the four walls of the performing organization to industry forums, seminars, and conferences.

Nominate for awards

If you are comfortable publishing and presenting the lessons you learned to others, why not nominate your projects for industry awards?

Even if you are unsuccessful, you can gain valuable knowledge and experience by looking at your projects in this new light.

PRO TIP: Judging panels are often more interested in how you overcame adversity than vanilla stories of awesomeness! 

Leverage capability

As teams and managers in your organization gain hard-won experience, you should look to re-engage them on similar projects whenever possible.

This is because for every lesson documented, there are probably another five or more locked in the head of those who have actually been there before.

Meta-analysis

Try wherever possible to capture the same data on different projects.

This could involve using standard template fields or survey instruments to record things such as earned value data, subjective performance indices, and client satisfaction.

Over multiple projects, this data can then be qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed for themes and trends that may inform a range of organization-wide learning opportunities.

Ultimately, this allows you to benchmark project maturity and measure lessons learned.

Celebrate success

Do not underestimate the value of a project wrap-up party. 

Bringing the team together to celebrate successes – even on unsuccessful projects – is a great way to transfer learning and improve the culture of project management in your workplace.

Project pre-mortem

There should always be an organizational policy that mandates reviewing similar projects whenever a new one starts, and an archiving system that makes this a simple process.

You might also introduce an activity called a project pre-mortem, where key project team members imagine that the project has been delivered and it failed miserably.

The process then involves:

• writing down all the things they can imagine went wrong
• selecting one each to create a bank of known hypothetical (but possible) issues, and
• each nominating how they would avoid the identified issues.

In theory, this empowers project team members by suggesting they are smart enough to avoid failure and instills a level of confidence and open thinking into the planning process.