This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you’re gonna let it be the worst. Psychotic, but absolutely right. How well were the stakeholders involved in the execution of the project? Did we escalate effectively and at the right time? What did you learn? Was the project executed according to plan? Bluto: We’re just the guys to do it. This agenda will include items such as ground rules, idea starting questions and lessons learned to follow up. Also, if there is a major event that occurs (good or bad) it is important to get the info out so other PMs know that it may affect them. 1. The resulting lessons learned partially affect future actions. i.e., if someone has additional suggestions, how might they get incorporated? Nice work – we're looking forward to your next iteration! If not, what should be done differently next time? Would you recommend this technology PM service to a peer? (if you keep an issues table for the life of your project this will be easy to review at the meeting). This includes the positives and negatives. Use survey questions (recommended below) to solicit feedback, Meetings and questions should address both PM and non-PM Lessons Learned, Use online anonymous survey to collect feedback, distill down to areas of discussion and focus actual meeting(s) around identifying specific actions to follow, Prepare the team in advance of the meeting for what will be discussed, Take steps to ensure that the meeting will be comfortable and non-confrontational, Involve a "scribe" or two to ensure that all notes get captured - the PM could be considered for this role, Project Manager of the project should not be facilitator of the lessons learned - get another PM or strong facilitator, Who is invited? (remember 90% of being a PM is communication! If you have issues with team members opening up I suggest creating a survey (see my post on lesson learned surveys). “Lessons Learned” review (sometimes referred to as after-action or post-project review). I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part. CUFA)? I think, even if you are not yet done with your 3 year project lesson, you can already apply what you have learned. No, I think we have to go all out. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. Step 17 Revise the draft and get the final version approved by the project initiator(s). Depending on the size and type of project there can be one or more LL session. Can we recommend CIT PMO adopt a survey tool (would help facilitate use of pre-made templates)? Naturally, there were also multiple guesses as to how to prevent recurrence. Boon: Forget it, he’s rolling. Ask what was done, and what resulted, over and over, until you get a scenario everyone can accept as valid. Did the planning effort include key stakeholders? Was issue management performed appropriately. Have you considered a process for continuous improvement? The lessons learned template serves as a valuable tool for use by other project managers within an organization who are assigned similar projects.   ™    Need? Three key questions should be included as part of the survey: 1) what went right, 2) what went wrong and 3) what needs to be improved. Recommendations for future projects like this one. Question. On chartering the team(s) Review the Charters semi-monthly to ensure Task Forces are consistently on track. 5. Did you say “over”? During meeting checklist (agenda?) Did we have enough resources? Step 16 Send draft lessons learned document to the peer review team. Another useful tool in the Lessons Learned process is the Lessons Learned Survey. Was change management performed appropriately? Did the project unduly stray from identified goals and objectives? !Keep up the good work!! There are some classic ones that I will cover below, but there are always some questions that are project or organization specific. They execute them regularly, and Lessons Learned are stored and disseminated throughout the organization. Do you believe the technology PM applied provided a better ulimate outcome for this project? Was documentation appropriate, timely, and clear? This is an extremely difficult, but vital part of the analysis. Lessons learned is the knowledge gained from the process of conducting a project. When managing stakeholders keep the following in mind: Who are the stakeholders? Did the teams/sub-teams work effectively together?   √    Done! But a commonly asked question is, ‘How to document lessons learned?’ It can be hard to keep track of lessons learned without a formalized system to make use of these insights. Who should "own"/steward this content moving forward? And do you have any thoughts on continuous improvement of those? What value did project management bring to the project? Did communications go to the right people, at the right time? Lessons learned. Before to share a lessons learned template, let’s talk about the questions to be asked during sessions. Post meeting checklist (PMI suggestion: have resource managers review LLs). What issues occurred and how did we fix them? On 02/03/09, Mike Scullin provided the following feedback in response to the LLWG Facilitation Team "Adoption Proceedings" meeting notes: In the two LL sessions I've been in as a tech resource, the main difficulty I saw was in getting the facts straight. These responses will be used by the lessons learned facilitator to guide the discussion during the lessons learned session. Thoughts of a Project Manager; Ryan Endres, PMP, Nathaniel @ project management test questions, What to do When a Team Member Needs to Rant. What went wrong? Without insuring you have the facts clear (logs, emails, notes, samples of output, reconciling all viewpoints, etc.) Store . While the finalization of a formal lessons learned document is completed during the project closeout process, capturing lessons learned should occur throughout the project lifecycle to ensure all information is documented in a timely and accurate manner. Did the individual team members responsible for the work provide the estimates? These responses will be used by the lessons learned facilitator to guide the discussion during the lessons learned session. Everybody is asked to give their feedback on the following questions: Lessons learned key questions: What was done well? Here is a Toolkit for Conducting Lessons Learned: The purpose of conducting lessons learned is to capture the knowledge learned during the course of business, or while implementing projects. It is really very informative! Level 2 (Good) Organizations have a defined process for holding lessons learned reviews. 11 Questions and Prompts for Insightful Debriefing Sessions Posted by Constance Ward on March 22, 2013 | 5 Comments In order to create a powerful “learning organisation,” your management team needs to be able to share lessons learned among themselves in a systematic way. Bluto: *Let’s do it*! workgroups)? Did the teams share a common goal/mission? The project survey should also include specific questions for each category. To start the meeting, take a few minutes to explain the meeting’s ground rules. Is there potential/need for capturing "one off" questions for special future surveys? At the end right? Input from the team on the Project Management process. Posted at 15:23h in Goals by Debbie O'Grady 0 Comments. Did you know where to go to get information about the project? All stakeholders were appropriately engaged, involved, and available? Post meeting checklist, 3. The idea is to repeat the positives aspects and not repeat the mistakes. It applies to any project; and questions can easily be added to focus on additional areas for your project. During meeting checklist... question: what does the agenda look like to conduct a meeting to "focus actual meeting around identifying specific actions to follow"? Besides, it's much better if you can immediately apply it so that it will stuck up in your mind. In a small group you would just enter the feedback in an Excel sheet. What did we do right? How well did the teams/sub-teams work together? The project survey should also include specific questions for each category. Lessons Learned sessions tend to bring out the negatives, be sure to ask "What Went Right" The lessons learned register may also include the impact, recommendations, and proposed actions associated with the situation. How was the communication of project details? you can't proceed to any kind of rational conclusion. Usually, the question was something like: Project Initiation This is a survey that can be sent to team members during or after a project, to solicit their feedback on how the project was conducted. Are there other "facilitation forums" to consider: message board, SIG.   √    Done! Questions: How was the communication of project details? Pre-meeting survey... question: should there be separate surveys, i.e. List top significant project successes? Marmalard, dead! Otter: Germans? 2. Lessons Learned: Make roles and responsibilities for measuring benefits is defined upfront. During meeting checklist (agenda?) Lessons learned document the cause of issues and the reasoning behind any corrective action taken to address those issues. Before meeting checklist... suggested items:  review LL's & BP's with prior PM, prior team members So what questions do you ask at a lessons learned meeting? Did team members and stakeholder fulfill their roles appropriately? Finally, you need a common location for your lessons learned findings. Where’s the spirit? Bluto’s right. Lessons learned are the last outcome of a project. If that’s the case, you’re well on your way to success! Notable quotable from the movie Animal House (from the blog: uncoachable.com): Bluto: Over? Capture lessons learned that address the following: And then these are stored in a common location for future review. Capturing lessons learned is an integral part of every project and serves several purposes. Therefore, it is important to write and review lessons learned report. Based on what you know now, what should have been done differently in this project? The lessons learned register may record challenges, problems, realized risks and opportunities, or other content as appropriate. Was cutover planned well? ™    Need? The goal is to encourage the recurrence of positive outcomes while deterring undesirable ones. 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