![\"Lessons](\"https:\/\/plaky.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Lessons-learned-in-project-management-cover.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWhat are lessons learned in project management?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Lessons learned are experiences and knowledge gained through previous project successes and failures.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n By reflecting on what has (and hasn\u2019t) worked in previous projects and documenting this data, lessons learned help us replicate successes and avoid repeating failures. Over time, this leads to improved processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This data is usually gathered through lessons learned meetings, which involve the entire project team and are generally organized at the end of a project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Capturing lessons learned in project management<\/a> stands to benefit your team in many ways by enabling you to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to \u201cLearning from All Projects<\/em><\/a>\u201d by Steyn and Van der Walt, the lessons learned process includes the following 5 steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s exactly what you should do to complete each one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To identify lessons learned, gather your team and discuss what went wrong<\/em>, what went well<\/em>, and suggestions for improvement<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This doesn\u2019t have to be a live discussion, as you can also do it in the form of a survey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Make sure to focus on both the positives and negatives, as merely learning to avoid mistakes won\u2019t teach you how to seize opportunities and vice versa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Document the conclusions identified in step #1 and store them somewhere accessible to all team members. Ask team members to confirm the accuracy of the information and then send a copy of the document to project stakeholders<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019ve identified and documented the lessons learned, it\u2019s time to analyze and catalog them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If your lessons learned repository consists of a single bulleted list that spans multiple pages, no one is going to use it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, it should contain different sections for successful and failed projects, as well as separate subsections for lessons relating to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once analyzed, lessons learned should be stored in a repository that is accessible to all team members. It\u2019s also a good idea to keep several repositories in case of sensitive data \u2014 or so that you don\u2019t overwhelm different departments with irrelevant knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Which software you use for this depends on you, but keep in mind that these repositories are best kept in places that team members actually use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, if your team is already using a tool like Plaky<\/a> by CAKE.com<\/a> for task management<\/a>, you can just create a separate lessons learned repository board. This way, they don\u2019t have to jump through hoops when they want to look something up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lastly, the whole point of capturing and storing lessons learned from previous projects is to retrieve them during ongoing projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, remember to use them to detect risks and avoid previous mistakes, as well as to incorporate processes and practices that have proven successful in situations you\u2019ve faced before.<\/p>\n\n\n There are many methods you can rely on to capture lessons learned, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Surveys are especially useful for collecting impressions from big teams working on large projects. They can also be used in conjunction with meetings to provide structure as talking points and guide the discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The survey questions should ideally be divided into different categories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Also known as project post-implementation reviews<\/a>, these are meetings dedicated to the evaluation of the project life cycle. They cover everything that\u2019s gone right and wrong and are the default method of capturing lessons learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While more time-consuming, these meetings are a great tool for project managers<\/a> of smaller teams who can reasonably schedule a meeting with every team member. Doing this enables you to prod for more elaborate insights in a more relaxed environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lessons learned don\u2019t have to be left for the end of the project. You can capture them during your regular daily, weekly, or monthly team meetings. This enables you to learn lessons and apply solutions in real time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You can even start capturing lessons learned starting with the project kickoff meeting<\/a>. Also, consider doing this after important moments in the project, such as after each project phase<\/a> or after achieving important project milestones<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Team\/project wikies are another way to proactively capture lessons learned while executing the project. Wikies are documents that project team members can update with new lessons on a regular basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also use software to capture and store lessons learned. However, we recommend doing this in software that your team already uses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, if your task management software<\/a> is flexible enough to allow this, you can make a separate board for lessons learned so that it’s always just a click away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is because remote teams already have to use loads of remote tools, so it\u2019s best not to overwhelm them with unnecessary software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As shown in the Plaky screenshot below, your lessons learned board could have custom fields for the lessons learned, person, recommendations<\/em>, and so on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Remote teams stand to benefit the most from this since Plaky\u2019s search feature would allow team members to easily find relevant lessons learned even when no one is online.<\/p>\n\n\n Try Plaky by CAKE.com for free<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Live meetings are arguably the best way to capture lessons learned. But it\u2019s not as simple as scheduling a meeting and hopping in \u2014 you should prepare to run these meetings properly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To do so, here are some pointers to keep in mind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can kickstart the lessons learned report writing process with our free template.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This template divides lessons learned into sections that many projects are likely to have and offers some premade questions to help you get started. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you make a copy of the document, you\u2019re free to edit it however you like: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Get our lessons learned template here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep in mind that lessons learned reports should provide information relevant to the people who will read them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This means that a report intended for project team members should focus more on daily procedures, communication, and project deadlines<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, a report intended for higher-ups may need to be a 1-page summary that only focuses on key lessons learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As mentioned, a lessons learned repository should be formatted for quick and easy keyword or category searching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With that in mind, we\u2019ve provided some simple project lessons learned examples that cover a wide breadth of different situations. Some are intended for project team members, some for project managers, and some for organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Situation:<\/strong> A team member tried time tracking software for the first time, and their productivity skyrocketed. The same result was replicated by the rest of the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lesson learned:<\/strong> Improve your time organization using a time tracker to help you prioritize tasks and avoid missing deadlines<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Situation:<\/strong> A team of developers working on software for a hospital is having trouble with feature terminology. No progress was made until the team lead invited an expert to help them define key medical features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lesson learned: <\/strong>When struggling with issues outside the team\u2019s area of expertise, seek outside expert help, e.g., invite a specialist to provide the needed input.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Situation:<\/strong> 2 remote team members are working on the same task because they didn\u2019t know who they were assigned to. This was a recurring issue until the team started using task management software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lesson learned:<\/strong> Establish a formal channel of communication for transparent task management where all team members can see which tasks are assigned to them. In other words, keep using Plaky by CAKE.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200b\u200b\n If, however, you realize you need a more sophisticated communication tool, try the CAKE.com Bundle, which gets you 3 tools at an incredible price: Plaky for polished project management, Pumble for smooth team communication, and Clockify for efficient time tracking.<\/p>\n Situation:<\/strong> Team members have frequently worked overtime to meet deadlines<\/a> because of ad hoc tasks<\/a>. This resulted in lower productivity over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lesson learned: <\/strong>Provide buffer times for each task to avoid burnout and manage ad hoc tasks with buffers in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Situation:<\/strong> New employees weren\u2019t sure about the benefits of the private health insurance your company offers and didn\u2019t know who to ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lesson learned: <\/strong>Provide a Q&A page for employees to ask questions and find answers. Include this information and the link to the Q&A page in the employee onboarding process<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite all the benefits mentioned so far, you might be surprised to learn that the entire lessons learned process is often skipped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The team delivers a project and moves on to the next one. The reasons provided to justify this usually run along the lines of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n But these arguments are either shortsighted or indicative of larger problems within organizations. Going one by one, here are the rebuttals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Scott could ask the cast of The Office <\/em>to just stand up and waltz into the conference room at a moment\u2019s notice whenever he got a hilariously bad idea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, his remote counterparts would need to first:<\/p>\n\n\n\n What would take a literal moment and one sentence in an office would take 2 or 3 tools for a remote manager to organize \u2014 an online calendar, conference call software, and a team communication platform to ping everyone about the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remote teams have to rely on software to make up for both the spatial and temporal distance between its members, but using too many tools leads to software overload \u2014 frustration with learning and operating many tools, especially if they\u2019re barely used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why it\u2019s best to use powerful and versatile tools that can account for multiple use cases \u2014 like Plaky.<\/p>\n\n\n As a fully customizable and powerful task management platform, you can use Plaky to create different boards that cater to the project workflow<\/a> of different departments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s so customizable, in fact, that you can make boards that don\u2019t have anything to do with task management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Just add a new board to serve as a lessons learned repository and create different items and groups of items to cover the situations teams should learn from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Voil\u00e0! You\u2019ve got a repository that\u2019s not only searchable but also logs all changes to every item so that accidental changes can\u2019t creep by \u2014 and all of this while preventing tools overload from setting its exhausting and frustrating claws into your team members!<\/p>\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s why you\u2019ll benefit from using lessons learned<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Your 5-step guide to an efficient lessons learned process<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Step #1: Identify<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Step #2: Document<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Step #3: Analyze<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Step #4: Store<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Step #5: Retrieve<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Visual](\"https:\/\/plaky.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/5-step-lessons-learned-process.png\")
Different methods you can use to capture lessons learned<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Surveys<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Post-mortem reviews<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
One-on-one meetings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Recurring team meetings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Wikies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Software<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Lessons](\"https:\/\/plaky.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Lessons-learned-log-in-Plaky.png\")
How to hold effective lessons learned meetings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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How to write a lessons learned report (+ free downloadable template)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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![\"Lessons](\"https:\/\/plaky.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Lessons-learned-template.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nLessons learned examples<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
#1: Improve time management skills<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
#2: Seek expert advice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
#3: Encourage communication<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Plaky](\"https:\/\/plaky.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/cake-blog\/theme\/images\/banners\/bundle@2x.png)
\n <\/picture>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n#4: Avoid tight deadlines<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
#5: Promote transparency<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Why are lessons learned skipped? (And why you really shouldn\u2019t skip them!)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Improve remote team performance with lessons learned<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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![\"Lessons](\"https:\/\/plaky.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Lessons-Learned-office-meme.png\")
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