The end. You have finished your project, bring on the party! While it’s a great feeling to finally get the project done and off your desk, you have some activities to complete before it is actually ‘done’.  As the project manager you have to complete an end of project report. Check to see if your organisation has a template that you need to use. If so, get a copy and start working on that. 

Part of your final activities should be a lesson learned workshop. This is to gather up the people involved in the project and get their views on what went well, what was poorly done and what could have been done better. 

The purpose of a lessons learned workshop is to identify what was learned during the project. These lessons can be handed over to new projects so that they don’t repeat the same mistakes, or plan for things that may occur during their execution phase.  The lessons learned are discussed with stakeholders and what they believe was done well and what could have been done better.  Note that these are their opinions, and you should not be defensive or try to deny their opinions, but to listen and try to understand the issue from their point of view.

Usually, the lessons learned workshop is held during the project closure or review process.  However, for a larger project or programme, workshops to collect lessons learned can be scheduled and completed at the completion of each major phase or deliverable completion. 

The meeting can be held with the entire project team, various stakeholder groups, and/or one-on-one. Make sure you allow plenty of time for discussions and remember that it is not a blame game – you are not looking to blame people for what went wrong, it is all about finding out how to avoid difficult situations in the future. 

 Pro Tip:

As soon as you get appointed to be the project manager or scum master, start a document and call it Lessons Learned.

As the project progresses add your thoughts to the following three questions:

•What happened?

•What went well?

•What could have been better?

It’s hard to remember everything that goes on during a project. So record as you go, then you will have your notes to help you at the final lessons learned workshop.

For more about project lessons learned or retrospectives check out the E-Book on this website. 

 Carol Speirs

January 2021