A Lessons Learned Template
Posted by Brad EgelandLessons Learned – often talked about, a discussion that is usually planned…but often forgotten. You’re at the end of the project and the plan is to pull both teams together to go over lessons learned in great detail and for the benefit of all – but it often doesn’t happen. Team members move on to other projects or post-deployment issues are taking up everyone’s time.
Lessons Learned sessions can be very helpful – and if you’re luck enough to keep yours on the project schedule, then this template may help you. It looks a little rough pasted into this post and one of the tables turned into a bullet list, but I think you’ll get the idea.
As always, if you want the Word doc template, let me know…and please feel free to share your version as well.
PROJECT LESSONS-LEARNED DOCUMENT
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Project Name: |
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Prepared by: |
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Date (MM/DD/YYYY): |
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The purpose of this template is to help the project team share knowledge gained from experience so that the entire organization may benefit. A successful Lessons-Learned program will help project teams:
- Repeat desirable outcomes
- Avoid undesirable outcomes.
A. Your project team should begin to use this document at its first project meeting. Continually recording Lessons-Learned throughout the project is the best way to ensure that they are accurately recorded. Topics to consider include all of the following (feel free to change the list). The Lessons Learned Checklist is also available as a guide to discussion.
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B. At the end of your project, use this document to summarize your experience.
During your discussions:
- Be positive
- Do not place blame!
- Focus on successes as well as failures
- Indicate which strategies contributed to success
- Indicate which improvement strategies would have the greatest impact
1. Project Journal |
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During each project team meeting discuss what strategies contributed to success as well as areas of potential improvement. Enter your conclusions in the table below (insert rows as needed): |
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Strategies and Processes that led to Success |
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Date |
Description |
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Areas of Potential Improvement |
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Date |
Description |
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2. Project Close-Out Discussion |
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At the end of your project, gather all stakeholders for a Lessons-Learned meeting: |
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Step 1: As a group exercise, fill out the Lessons Learned Checklist (create hyperlink if needed) |
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Step 2: Use the questions below to summarize your Lessons-Learned discussion. Enter comments in the areas provided. Focus on Lessons Learned that will help in future projects. (Insert rows as needed) |
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A. List this project’s three biggest successes. |
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Description |
Factors that Promoted this Success |
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B. List other successes that the team would like highlighted: |
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Description |
Factors that Promoted this Success |
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C. List areas of potential improvement along with high-impact improvement strategies: |
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Description |
Factors that Promoted this Success |
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D. Enter other comments: |
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3. Project Lessons-Learned Document / Signatures |
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Project Manager: |
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I have reviewed the information contained in this Project Lessons-Learned Document and agree: |
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Signature |
Date(MM/DD/YYYY) |
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The signatures above indicate an understanding of the purpose and content of this document by those signing it. By signing this document, they agree to this as the formal Project Lessons-Learned Document.
Related posts:
4 Comments to “A Lessons Learned Template”
Post comment
Tim Haskins says:
Great document and thanks for sharing this. I’ve found it essential for a team to declare both the good and bad if you’re committed to positive growth.
We’re just finishing a project and we’ll have a project review meeting so I’d love to have this to use – so please email the template.
Thanks!
Primoz Frelih, PMP says:
Thanks for sharing and I see you have covered the hard and the soft factors needed for continous improvement. And just when I thought a template alone cannot be enough and started to miss a proper process in place I saw the link to your post about “Transferring Lessons Learned to Others” from 09/11/09. Great! Best regards from Ljubljana.
Project Management Templates | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] Lessons Learned [...]
Priyadarshini says:
The template is great and contains all details needed but if it was in downloadable format it would have been great and useful for everyone