Lessons learned, Ken Burrell, APM PMO SIG conference 2017

16-Aug-17
LL²
(Lessons Learned
on Lessons Learned)
KEN BURRELL, PRAGMATIC PMO LTD
Pragmatic
PMO

Why are
Lessons
Learned
important?
 www.pragmaticpmo.com  Ken.Burrell@PragmaticPMO.com @PragmaticPMO
Pragmatic
PMO

George Santayana
Philosopher
1863-1952
Image “Civil war graves at Arlington” by Mike Boswell,
https://flic.kr/photos/mjbos11/11875209906/
Licence at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0.
Pragmatic
PMO

“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected
always happens, how incapable Man must
be of learning from experience”
George Bernard Shaw
Playwright
1856-1950
Image “Not Listening” by Alan Levine, flic.kr/photos/cogdog/3656209164. Licence
at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0.
Pragmatic
PMO

What roles
does the
PMO play?
Pragmatic
PMO

A model of learning in projects, and
the PMO’s role
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application
Inspired by Kolb, D. A. (1984),
“Experiential Learning: Experience as the source of learning and development” New
Jersey: Prentice Hall., and “Seeing the whole elephant” by Chris Collison
https://chriscollison.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/seeing-the-whole-elephant/
• Facilitate collection
• Interpret and document
• Curate knowledge base
• Maintain repository
• Signpost relevant info
• Provide contacts
Connect
people
Pragmatic
PMO

Why don’t we
learn lessons
from projects?
Pragmatic
PMO

 Projects not closed properly, or even at all(a)
 Closure isn’t sexy
 Any excuse to avoid and go on holiday
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application

a) Ron Rosenhead goo.gl/Vcffuv
Pragmatic
PMO

We don’t capture lessons effectively
 Doing the bare minimum
 Incomplete capture or analysis
 Experience may be written up
 Some may be missed
 Ineffective extraction of learning
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application

Pragmatic
PMO

Why?
 Some lessons not really suitable for capture
 We undervalue our observations or think they aren’t transferable
 We are unwilling to share our knowledge(a)
 Record events and observations, rather than themes and causes(b)
 There is personal risk in saying:
 “I was wrong”(c)
 “You were wrong”
 “The system was wrong”(d)
 Anything good was because of what I did
 Anything bad was beyond my control
a) Desouza, K.C. and Evaristo, J.R., 2006. Project management offices: A case of knowledge-based archetypes. International Journal of Information Management, 26(5), pp.414-423
b) Ron Rosenhead goo.gl/brrLUf
c) Pragmatic PMO, goo.gl/361YfE
d) Linky van der Merwe goo.gl/evhta4
Pragmatic
PMO

We don’t store lessons in an
accessible form
 Storage is unstructured
 Information is hard to find
 People leave – so org knowledge deteriorates
 It may be there but no-one knows that, or where to find it
 Despite 80% of organisations running PIRs, <20% of PIRs are ever re-accessed(a)
 Leading to…
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application

Pragmatic
PMO

Image by Louise Worsley, used by permission Pragmatic
PMO

We don’t review and apply
past lessons
 We are in a hurry to start on our new, shiny projects
 We are too busy to review Lessons Learned
 JFDI!
 Get started!
 Demonstrate activity!
But…
 We find time to repeat the mistakes of the past
 We find the time and money to do things wrong and have to do them again properly
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application


Pragmatic
PMO

We believe that we and our current
project are unique
 Uniqueness used as a rationale to not look for learning elsewhere
 Preference to develop a new solution and be seen as innovative problem-solvers
 May not be the quickest or cheapest
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application


Pragmatic
PMO

So, just how
transferable
are Project
Lessons?
Survey conducted by
Pragmatic PMO Ltd
goo.gl/cAg16q
Pragmatic
PMO

Example Scenario
 Business Relocation and Transformation Project
 75% contractors; engaged for only arbitrary short periods
 Would have liked to keep contractors to end of stage /
deliverable hand-over of a deliverable, but…
 When offered renewal, already accepted new engagements
Pragmatic
PMO

What your peers thought
“This is the nature of contracting, you need to make
commitments early to ensure continuity”
“Could be applied to internal as well as external
resources, and perm as well as contract”
“Need to look at renewals in time to allow for sign-offs,
so contracts are renewed without a break”
“Identify ‘key people’ and manage like any other risk;
plan accordingly; add to stage end checklist?”
“Need to beware if you have slippage and you only have
contractors lined up to the end of the phase“
“Continuity helps delivery – who knew?!”
Very similar, 2%
Broadly similar, 6%
Widely
applied, 92%
 www.pragmaticpmo.com @PragmaticPMO
Pragmatic
PMO

This lesson can be applied…
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8
Widely across all projects To broadly similar projects Only to very similar projects
Pragmatic
PMO

General themes
Observations Made  Lessons Learned
Recommendations > Observations
Detailed observations  Generalised recommendations
Learning can be personal and organisational
Observations can be about People / Process / Project
Knowledge can be explicit or tacit
Pragmatic
PMO

So, what
can we do
better?
Pragmatic
PMO

Recognise that different dimensions of
learning need different approaches
 Who is learning
 What they are
learning about
 Type of learning
What we
have learned
Pragmatic
PMO

We need to reflect
Organisational:
 PMO to own guidelines
 Instil culture of reflection
 Formal feedback within four weeks
 Orgs need supportive culture – share and collaborate, team rather than individual focus
Personal:
 Reflection is part of professionalism
 Reflection as a personal objective?
 Put into objectives?
Organisations need to allow slack and time for this to happen
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application
✓
Pragmatic
PMO

We need to capture lessons effectively
Personal
 Document experience / observations for the benefit of ourselves and others
 Take responsibility - Be courageous – show your scars
Organisational
 Carry out “next level up” analysis (PMO?); Look for parallels
 Adapt process
 Big Database
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application
✓
Pragmatic
PMO

We need to store lessons in an
accessible form
Organisational
 Structured Storage
 Doc repository
 SharePoint
 User Tags
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application
✓
Pragmatic
PMO

We need to review and apply
past lessons
Personal
 Ask around – colleagues, wider network
 Look into corporate records – ask the PMO?
Organisational
 Require that PMs review of existing records before starting a new project
 PMO as knowledge broker – signpost the way
 Ensure the question “What did we do last time?” asked at the beginning of every project
 Check lists?
 Pre-load RAID register?
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application
✓
✓
Pragmatic
PMO

We need to think more laterally
about project comparisons
 Projects deliver, launch or move stuff
 Projects have delivered stuff like ours before
 Stuff has been delivered in industries like ours before
 Stuff has been delivered against similar constraints before
 But maybe we haven’t done it ourselves yet
 Think in terms of themes or constraints rather than deliverables
 Continuity
 Limited access
 Changeover
 Look at how people in other industries have tackled those constraints
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application


Pragmatic
PMO

We need to connect people to help
 Use LL database as a starting point – encourage people to follow up with item creators
Personal
 Ask around – colleagues, wider network
 Mentors
Organisational
 Professional associations
 Social Media
 Cross functional networks
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application
✓
Pragmatic
PMO

Some practical
suggestions…
Pragmatic
PMO

Call 3
 From John McIntyre, Head of PMO & Projects at Ticketmaster, and HotPMO.com
 Before you can get a new project approved
 Call 3 people identified by the PMO for a 30 minute phone call
 Hear their stories
 Implement their learning
 If you’re going to be leaving, prepare a Call 3 pack as though you’re talking to someone
on the phone:
 Make it personal
 Make it powerful
 Make it passionate
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application
✓
Pragmatic
PMO

LL Video Blog
 Film LL presentation or Talking Head (can use phone)
 Make it genuine; don’t polish it
 PMO edit and file video
 Tag with metadata, include persistent contact details
 Allow users to tag and rate / like
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application
✓ ✓
Pragmatic
PMO

Create a learning culture
 Community of Practice
 Lunch & Learns
 PMs to present to each other; run sessions
 PM subjects; Lessons Learned; Problems I’m facing; Scar shows; Success stories
 Create a supportive PM community
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application
✓ ✓
Pragmatic
PMO

Additional ideas
 Oral Storytelling
 Fireside chats
 Social events (down the pub)
 Trips to the unfamiliar
 Social workplace design (breakout areas, mixing people up, touchdown areas to make
visits easy)
 Mentoring
 Intranet articles as well as / instead of LL database items (SEARCH function!)
Experience
Reflection
Capture
Storage
Retrieval
Application
✓ ✓
Pragmatic
PMO

If you’re interested…
 Ron Rosenhead
 Are lessons learned? Not really goo.gl/Vcffuv
 On the need to distil goo.gl/brrLUf
 Do we really learn from successes or errors? goo.gl/VhK31J
 Louise Worsley
 On sharing success stories goo.gl/oETaSL
 PMO as knowledge broker goo.gl/Px4cQk
 Linky van der Merwe – Challenging status quo goo.gl/evhta4
 Ian Seath – on Uniqueness goo.gl/YHmDw2
 Judy Payne (APM Knowledge SIG)
 Intro to KM (aimed at Construction but widely applicable) goo.gl/LsfYQs
 Think you know knowledge? goo.gl/vneZ7T
 HotPMO Bring Lessons Learned to Life with Call3 goo.gl/jeSSTW
 Pragmatic PMO
 Take the LL Survey, benchmark against your peers goo.gl/cAg16q
 On LL generally goo.gl/2ycOVI
 The Campaign for Real PMs #CAMRPM goo.gl/361YfE
 A more personal storytelling approach goo.gl/LMnUxi
Pragmatic
PMO
 Ken.Burrell@PragmaticPMO.com
 www.PragmaticPMO.com
 @PragmaticPMO

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