Creating Lessons Learned in Project Management | iCert Global

When a project is complete, it is time to celebrate, right? Not so fast - you are not truly finished until you have written a lessons learned document. If you are preparing for your PMP certification, ICert Global can help you appreciate why this document is important and why it is useful to create one.

A Guide to Lessons Learned in Project Management

Many project managers know it is helpful to document what was learned during a project. This helps their teams, organizations, and future projects. Lessons learned are records of what went well, and what did not go well, in a project.

What Are Lessons Learned in Project Management?

We execute projects to develop something new. Throughout the effort of the project we introduce ideas or try to find better or different ways to do things. While no project is ever exactly the same, it is valuable to utilize what was learned on previous projects to better the current one, and to make it more efficient.

How Are Lessons Learned Used?

The goal behind lessons learned is to assist teams in understanding what worked and did not work in a project. Lessons learned includes finding lessons that were valuable, writing them down, storing them, and distributing them to the correct parties, implementing process change based on the lessons learned, and to evaluate if change occurred.

Write It Down

Any lessons learned should be recorded so it is clear what the new lesson learned was. Tell everyone in the organization that needs to know.

Review It

Subject matter experts review the lessons to evaluate and determine how the lessons can be implemented. The lessons are stored with recommendations to facilitate the lesson utilization for the team.

Store It

The use of tools to store this information in a usable way is key so everyone in the organization can access it when they want to. A specific location should be established to store this knowledge carefully.

How Do You Record Lessons Learned

Lessons learned should be recorded and distributed to anyone who participated in the project. Different kinds of reports can be published depending on who will read them. A complete lessons learned report will contain what was discussed in the meeting and any additional thoughts from others, who could not attend, who had some thoughts to offer.

Writing a Lessons Learned Report in Project Management.

When it comes to writing a report, keep in mind the following steps:

• Identify your audience. Are you providing a report to team members or other important participants called stakeholders? Team members will be more interested in what happened from day to day while stakeholders want to know when the larger goals were achieved.

• Choose the main lessons that should be highlighted to the people who will read your report.

• Organize your answers and observations into the report types, and you may need several reports if you collected different types of feedback.

Why Are Lessons Learned Important in Project Management?

Documenting and sharing lessons learned can help teams not repeat the same mistakes. It can also help teams document better ways to work in the future when undertaking similar work.

Benefits of Lessons Learned in Project Management

By dwelling on what worked and what didn’t work, you can learn from your successes and mistakes. Other benefits of lessons learned in project management include:

• Learn from Experience: Repeat what has worked well and don’t repeat what has not. Keep notes about lessons learned as you go to make sure you don’t forget anything!

• Identify Unproductive States: Remove states of action that do not add value and will be eliminated to simplify future work. Eliminate what does not move the team closer to the goal!

• Share Knowledge: Allow future teams to benefit from your knowledge. Pass on your findings to the people who will be working on the project after you.

Obstacles with Lessons Learned in Your Projects

If you do use lessons learned with your team, there can be obstacles along the way. Here are a few examples:

Using lessons for future work: It can be difficult to transfer what you learn to new projects. When obstacles arise, there will be an immediate focus on the biggest problem, with the intention of fixing the issue. There are some tools for identifying issues (e.g., root cause analysis), which helps outline the process for the outcome and action to prevent re-occurrence.

Time: Time management issues when dealing with projects can pose a significant challenge in finding spare time to do a lessons learned session with your team. Be sure to schedule time for obtaining lessons learned, booking time to discuss lessons learned and review to avoid skipping it due to forgetting about process.

Organization: Keeping track of lessons learned could be a hassle. Some companies may use a few different processes for saving notes - on pieces of paper, in a notebook, or on the online tools that the organization uses like Teams and OneNote.

Important Considerations:

• Use lessons learned from previous projects. You will learn in your PMP certification training, using lessons learned from previous projects can help you run your current projects much more effectively.

• Collect lessons learned during the project. It is a good practice to collect lessons learned during the project as the project progresses, in order to save time, and it is also easier to finish them at the end of the project. It is also a great way to ensure the lessons are not changed inappropriately.

How to obtain Lessons Learned  certification? 

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We have successfully conducted training sessions in 108 countries across the globe and enabled thousands of working professionals to enhance the scope of their careers.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, documenting lessons learned is essential for continuous improvement in project management. It helps teams capture successes and avoid repeating mistakes in future projects. By organizing, sharing, and applying these insights, organizations can boost efficiency and project outcomes.

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