November 17, 2009

A Lessons Learned Template

Posted by Brad Egeland

Lessons 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

Project Name:
Prepared by:
Date (MM/DD/YYYY):

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.

Project Management

Technical Management

Human Factors

Overall

Project Planning

Requirements

Communication

Customer Satisfaction

Resource Management

Specification

Team Experience

Technical Success

Risk Management

Test Plan

Interaction with Sponsor

Quality product

Change Control

Construction

Interaction with Customer

Product Accepted

Procurement

Testing

Interaction with Management

On Time

Budget Management

Rollout

Management support

Within Budget

Quality Control

Training

Quality of meetings

Met Project Objectives

Status Reports

Documentation

Vendor interaction

Met Business Objectives

Vendor Selection

Vendor Management

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
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):
Strategies and Processes that led to Success
Date	Description



Areas of Potential Improvement
Date	Description

2. Project Close-Out Discussion
At the end of your project, gather all stakeholders for a Lessons-Learned meeting:
Step 1: As a group exercise, fill out the Lessons Learned Checklist (create hyperlink if needed)
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)
A. List this project’s three biggest successes.
Description	Factors that Promoted this Success




B. List other successes that the team would like highlighted:
Description	Factors that Promoted this Success




C. List areas of potential improvement along with high-impact improvement strategies:
Description	Factors that Promoted this Success



D. Enter other comments:

3. Project Lessons-Learned Document / Signatures
Project Manager:
I have reviewed the information contained in this Project Lessons-Learned Document and agree:
Name	Title	Signature	Date *(MM/DD/YYYY)*

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.

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Tags: budget, change, Customer Satisfaction, deployment, issues, lessons, lessons learned, management, management support, planning, project, project manager, requirements, resource management, Risk, stakeholders, status report, status reports, Strategies, training

166 Comments to “A Lessons Learned Template”

January 10, 2013 at 5:49 am
Hairul says:

Hi,

Kindly email me in word 2007. TQ
February 15, 2013 at 1:45 am
Bill says:

Great Template. If you could email me the word doc. that would be much appreciated.

Thanks
February 20, 2013 at 2:32 pm
Jeanette says:

Could you email the template in word 2007 please
Thank you very much
February 26, 2013 at 5:17 pm
DB says:

i agree – nice template and format. Could I get a copy in Word format as well?
March 1, 2013 at 4:03 pm
Jim says:

Great stuff…Please send me a MS Word copy.

Thanks!
March 13, 2013 at 4:07 pm
Kristian says:

Great! Could you please send me a MS Word copy?

Thanks you!
March 19, 2013 at 1:17 pm
Katie says:

Can you please send me a Word copy? Thanks!!!
March 22, 2013 at 9:17 pm
Nikki says:

I would also like a copy of the Word template, please!
April 1, 2013 at 2:55 pm
CB says:

Could you please send me a MS Word copy? Thank you!
April 5, 2013 at 11:16 am
Adam says:

Hi! Amazing! How do you get a word copy please? CHeers, Adam
April 19, 2013 at 4:21 pm
Franck says:

Hello Brad,

You’re Right, it’s’ often forgotten while it is very important !

Please provide me your template in order to use it ASAP.

Regards.
May 2, 2013 at 1:59 pm
JJ says:

Please send me the word template…thanks so much!
May 5, 2013 at 11:26 am
Michele says:

Hi. Great post. Could you please email me the word template. Thanks.
May 8, 2013 at 4:03 am
KathD says:

Very topical issue for us. Please send me the word template, thanks!
May 19, 2013 at 2:16 pm
Hieu Ho Trung says:

It’s wonderful post.
Could you please email me the word template.
Thanks a lot,
Hieu Ho Trung
May 23, 2013 at 4:05 pm
Osei Kwame says:

Please mail me the word template. It will be helpful at this moment. I mean very crucial