Capturing Lessons Learned Information – Making your current and future projects smarter!

Capturing Lessons Learned Information – Making
your current and future projects smarter!

Bill Dow, PMP
Dow Publishing LLC
Capturing Lessons Learned
Information – Making your
current and future projects
smarter!

Importance
of Project
Communica
tions• 1. Project Failures & Survey’s
• 2. Common Communication Problems
• 3. Project Communication Planning
• 4. Project Management & Social Media
• 5. Project Communications & Agile
Projects
• 6. Project Management & Business
Intelligence
Agenda
1. Report on Lessons Learned at Project
Kick-off
2. Collect Lessons Learned throughout life
of project
3. Review Lessons Learned information
from past projects
4. Show discretion in capturing Lessons
Learned information
5. Reporting Lessons Learned information
at the end of the Project

• Today’s project managers do not track Lesson’s Learned
information on their project’s.
• We can show project managers survey after survey on why
projects fail and it really doesn’t matter. If project managers
don’t see value, in collecting Lessons Learned information, they
won’t do it.
• It may be a bold statement, but sadly it is true!
Capturing Lessons Learned Information – Making your
current and future projects Smarter!

• Why is that? Why do project managers not collect Lessons
Learned information on their projects?
• What do we do about it? Who owns that problem? The PM? The
PMO? The PM’s boss?
• I am here today to tell you that it the project manager’s
problem.

Think about that!!!!

Who is the first person the customer looks at
when there is a problem?
Source of graphic: www.pxhere.com

Who???

The Project Manager!!!

What are some of the main reasons why project managers don’t
take the time and collect Lessons Learned Information?
Lack of time
Don’t care, it will never happen to them
Lack of management support
Lack of resources
Lack of guidelines – don’t know how?
Lack of centralized knowledge base to store information
Why? It is never going to be used again

• Some of these reasons seem valid, and that’s really the problem we are
seeing across project management today! Because they seem valid, project
managers think they are valid! That’s a problem!
• I believe the fundamental reason that project managers don’t collect
Lessons Learned information, is they don’t value the information!
• They don’t believe their project will fail, or they do believe that they are
better than the other project mangers, and they won’t make the same
mistakes!
That is a big problem!

Capturing & Using Lesson’s Learned
Information on your projects.

• Best Practice # 1 – Report on Lessons Learned information at
the project kick-off!

• At the project kick-off meeting, review Lessons Learned
information from past or similar projects.
• Spend some time, maybe a couple slides going over Lessons
Learned information.
• The caveat to those discussions – It shouldn’t take too long, and
make the conversations meaningful. This is not a check box
activity, don’t treat it that way!

What do I mean by that?
• Look at some of the challenges the projects had around
communicating information, running the project, or dealing
with stakeholders…etc.
• One of the areas important to cover is looking at how past
projects communicated project information. Where did they
struggle, what went well?

Example: Project Kick-off Agenda
Agenda
Item
Description Owner / Responsible
1 Review Lessons Learned Information Project Manager
2 Review Project Charter Project Manager
3 Review Project Scope Project Manager
4 Review Project Resources Project Manager
5 Review Project Timelines Project Manager
6 Review Project Risks & Issues Project Manager
7 Obtain Project Sign-offs & Approvals Project Manager
8 Walk-ons All Team
“How did reporting go? How did the team communicate? Special needs of the
customer?

Example: Project Kick-off Lessons Learned
• Project Name: Jones Construction Project:
• Scope:
There were several change requests on the project scope. Project team
continued to have to review the impacts of each CR which took them away
from executing the project.
• Time:
Project team hit every major deliverable on time.
• Resources:
Project team had a huge turn-over of project resources.
Highly leverage vendor staff for effort. ** AREA TO WATCH?? **

• For example, on one large project, I had a customer that
wanted a status report every Thursday delivered to them
in person. I had to go over every inch of that report. The
project colors, budget, risks, issues, resources.
• Another example, I had a customer that wanted a .mpp
(Microsoft Project) file sent to them EOD Fridays.
• Knowing this information from the project kick-off, will
help the project team be much better prepared.

There are thousands of these
kinds of examples!!!

• Reviewing past projects experiences will only help set
expectations from the very beginning and set you up to run a
successful project.
• Spend the time, go over Lessons Learned information from past
projects which will give you the best chance of success!
• Failing to review Lessons Learned information, could have you
making the same mistakes!

• Best Practice # 2 – Collecting Lessons Learned information
throughout the life of your project!

• Starting from the first project status meeting and continue that
process throughout the project.
• Collecting Lesson’s Learned information from the beginning
allows you to make course correction along the way.
• Many project manager’s miss this step – PM’s lose the ability to
see patterns and change things up along the way! i.e. Bob is
always late on his deliverables….

• How do you do that? How do you collect Lessons Learned
information throughout the life of your project?
• You start from the first status meeting and you ask your team
“What is going well?” & “Where are we struggling?”….
• Are we doing ok? Is the project on time? On budget?

Those words don’t have to be exact!

But the one thing you don’t do…..

Don’t tell your team you are
collecting Lessons Learned
Information! – Just do it!

• If you say the word “Lessons Learned”, it will quickly devalue the
process and you won’t get anything out of your team members!
• So, you must be a bit tricky, and you have to “collect” the Lessons
Learned information, without them knowing it.
•It is easy…

Agenda
Item
Description Owner / Responsible
1 Review Last week’s Minutes Project Manager
2 Review Current Action items All Team
3 Review Project Schedule All Team
4 Major Area Updates All Team Leads
5 Review Current Budget information Project Manager
6 Project Risks All Team
7 Project Issues All Team
8 Lessons Learned Information All Team
9 Walk-ons All Team
“What is going well?” & “Where are we struggling?” “How are things
going?...etc.”

• Incorporating your Lessons Learned information directly into your
weekly status agenda, will help you drive a successful project.
• Especially, if you need to do any course corrections, any adjustments
of staff, process changes…etc.
• Just remember, don’t call it “Lesson’s Learned”, capture it more discreetly,
and you will have a much easier time.

• When capturing your Lessons Learned, don’t make the process too complex,
create yourself a document or spreadsheet and start creating your big bucket
categories:
Schedule:
1. What went right?
2. What went wrong?
3. What could have been better?
• Keep creating the project categories and capture these three
answers for every category? Resources,
Communications…etc.
Budget:
1. What went right?
2. What went wrong?

Project Management Methodology
Initiating
Planning
Executing & Control
ClosingCollect
LessonsLearned
Information
Collect
LessonsLearned
Information
Collect
LessonsLearned
Information
Collect
LessonsLearned
Information

Project Name: ________________ Project Manager Name: _________________
Project Area: What is going
right?
What is not
going well?
What could be
better?
Notes:
Scope
Time
Budget
Resources
KPI’s
Communications
Risks & Issues
Project Quality
Team
Performance

• Using a simple and easy form like this will help you collect
lessons learned information during your project.
• It does not have to be complex, it does not have to take a lot of
time to complete, you just must do it!
• Collecting Lessons Learned information during your project
status meeting, will allow you to hear first hand how the project is
executing directly from your team members.

• Best Practice # 3 – Review Project Lessons Learned
information from past projects

• One of the biggest mistakes project managers make, is to stop
learning and trying to improve their project management skills!
• Once a project manager gives up and stops wanting to learn, their
projects will suffer.
• One of the best ways to learn, is to review what other project
managers have done. Review the other project manager’s
projects and determine if there is anything you can take to
leverage for your project.

• There are large projects going on in every company.
• Sometimes they have hired guns running these large efforts, and
other times it is senior level employees.
• The bigger the projects are, the more experienced the project
manager tends to be.
• The more experienced the PM, the more you can learn from them!

How do you do that? How do you learn from the hired guns?
• Start reviewing their projects. Look at how they are managing
their projects and take those key learnings and apply to your
project.
• Focus your research on the real tactical aspects of the project.

• Project Budget information - How was budget managed, what
reports were built, what dashboards? How was it tracked?
• Project Schedules? What reports? Did customers want to see the
timeline or did they like the Gantt chart?
• Project Resources - What resource reports did the stakeholders want
to see?
• Other big buckets of project information.. Risks/Issues…etc.

• When reviewing the various aspects of the project look for the
following three areas:
1. What went right?
2. What went wrong?
Look across project schedules, project communications, budgets, project
resources, to answer these three questions across the critical project areas.

• Some companies have centralized databases, or standard SharePoint
sites where Lessons Learned data is stored for you to review.
• It seems like today, those repositories are harder and harder to find,
but when you do find them, the wealth of data you find is priceless.
• Spend the time and review past information where you can.

• Best Practice # 4 – Show discretion in capturing Lessons
Learned information!

• Collecting Lessons Learned information throughout the life of the
project requires discretion. This is not information that in most cases
can be shared. It is just for you!
• Project Managers are going to have to be discreet in what
information can and can not be shared.
• Sharing information that should not be shared, can quickly turn into
the team members not trusting you. That’s the worst place you can
be in!

• Collect your lesson’s learned information offline in a folder or a
document that is not sharable.
• Offline hard drives, secured folders on SharePoint, but where ever you
collect the data, use security and discretion whenever possible.
• Sharing “Bob is always late in his deliverables” or “Mary is the
worst employee ever” is not going to help anyone if the information
gets out.

Project Area: What is going right? What is not going
well?
What could be better? Notes:
Scope Al keeps changing the scope!
Time Project keeps missing dates
Budget We have hit each major budget
milestone.
Resources Bob delivers late all the time.
Mary is causing huge project
problems.
We can’t keep staffing our
project with vendors.
There was no FTE budget for the
project.
KPI’s
Communications Jeff is a horrible communicator!
He won’t email, he won’t have
1:1’s.
Risks & Issues Weekly tracking of project risks
has been helpful
Project Quality
Team Performance

• This is the type of information you will hear from your team members.
• But what do you do with that information?
• Is it helpful for project managers to hear one employee complain
about another?
• No, not if there is no trend!

• If there is a trend, watch that trend, not too long, don’t rush it, make
sure you are seeing the same thing you are hearing and then react!
• Make sure you don’t react too quickly!
• Reacting too quickly, could hurt your reputation with all your team
members.

• Watching and listening to your project team members is a critical way
of staying connected to your team.
• Project managers must spend the time and listen, but don’t react
immediately.
• Building bonds and understanding your team members will give you
the best chance of delivering a successful project.

• Best Practice # 5 – Reporting Lessons Learned information at
the end of the project!

• One of the last items project managers complete in shutting
down a project is to hold the Lessons Learned review meeting.
• However, most project managers make the mistake of letting the
project getting close to finishing, then start asking the team
members for their Lessons Learned information.
That is a huge mistake!!

Project Management Methodology
Initiating
Planning
Executing & Control
ClosingCollect
LessonsLearned
Information
Collect
LessonsLearned
Information
Collect
LessonsLearned
Information
Collect
LessonsLearned
InformationRemember this process??

• This process is going to have you capturing Lessons Learned information
throughout the life of the project.
• At the end of that process, you are going to have a huge table of
information that you captured throughout the project!
• If you don’t follow this process, you are going to be running around trying
to collect this information from team members who could be long gone!
Don’t fall into that trap!

Project Area: What is going right? What is not going well? What could be better? Notes:
Scope Al keeps changing the scope!
Time Project keeps missing dates
Budget We have hit each major budget
milestone.
Resources Bob delivers late all the time.
Mary is causing huge project
problems.
We can’t keep staffing our
project with vendors.
There was no FTE budget for
the project.
KPI’s
Communications Jeff is a horrible communicator!
Risks & Issues Weekly tracking of project risks
has been helpful
Project Quality
Team Performance

• Following the process of collecting Lessons Learned information
throughout the project is critical in ensuring you have not missed
information along the way!
• If you ever tried getting information from team members who have long
left the project, it is never going to happen! You have lost that time, and
you will never get it back!
• Compiling the information can be challenging to bubble up into a report
but, at least you have the information. Look for trends and patterns and
report that information in your Lessons Learned review meeting!

Summary
1
2
Lessons Learned information is critical to start capturing from
the very beginning and all throughout the life of the project.
Adding Lessons Learned to your weekly agenda provides
that constant reminder to capture this valuable information.
3
Look for trends and continue to look for areas of
improvement on your project. Course correction throughout
your project gives you your best chance of success.

Bill Dow, PMP
Dow Publishing LLC
425-736-7171
billdow@dowpublishingllc.com
www.dowpublishingllc.com

Capturing Lessons Learned Information – Making your current and future projects smarter!

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