During the course of execution and certainly after completion of each project, the GM office shall keep sharing their lessons learned in execution of the project to the PMO, CDD and TISS. The lessons learnt shall be critically reviewed and final set of key lessons shall be shared with CDD & TISS teams for future projects. One of the takeaways from this is improving the standardisation document based on Lessons Learned such that future projects gets the benefit of past experience.
“Lessons learned” is the knowledge gained from implementing a project. This includes positive learnings or things we should do and things we should not do again. The idea is to repeat the positives aspects and not repeat the mistakes. Throughout a project's life, unique issues will be encountered where the project team needs to provide an out of box solution and at a cost. When these issues are resolved, the "Lessons Learned" should be documented for future reference. These lessons learned can then be used to feedback to CDD & TISS teams, to include in scopes of work, as best practices, or for other project teams to reference when the issue is encountered again.
The lessons learned process involves five steps with activities that will capture and use lessons learned.
The steps are:
- Identify – Identify the issues/challenges and recommendations that can be learned. These can be a valuable knowledge asset for future projects.
- Document – Many of the issues that occur will be encountered again on other projects. It is essential to document these solutions to prevent making the same mistakes and provide a quick reference for dealing with the issue when it does happen. Note the detailed lessons learned during discussions in a report that all participants can respond to. Distribute this report to the entire project team and retain it for future reference.
- Analyse – Analyse and organize the lessons learned so they can be applied and shared with other teams. They can improve project management or be used in training sessions.
- Store – Retain the lessons learned reports on a shared drive or in a cloud solution and eventually in ERP repository. That makes them available to all project teams.
- Retrieve – When storing the lessons learned reports, set up a keyword search capability to make them easily retrievable at any time during and after the Project.
When to initiate and conclude the Lessons Learned Process for a Project?
Lessons learned should be documented as soon as the issue is resolved. Busy days and long project schedules can cause many people to forget every single problem they have dealt with on a project. To capture everything, lessons learned should be documented periodically. It is an ongoing exercise for GM office to meet at least once in a month, to discuss and record the lessons learned. Also, on substantial completion of each package, lessons learned must be reviewed and concluded by inviting all stakeholders.
The below flowchart explains the process to be followed at the end of the Project, preferably immediately after the NoC is obtained to provide the feedback to CDD & TISS Teams.
Stakeholders involved in the process are,
- Management
- Concept Team
- TISS Team
- Design Consultant(s)
- Cost Consultant(s)
- Procurement & Commercial Team
- Project Execution Team
- Operations Team
- Customer Relationship Management Team
Steps involved in Lessons Learned Process:
A SPOC for Lessons Learned to be nominated from TISS Team to initiate the process.
Identify: The SPOC will request all stakeholders from Concept until Operations to identify both Positive and Negative Experiences during the entire life cycle.
Document and review: The SPOC for Lessons Learned shall consolidate the inputs received in a document and share the collection with CDD and Cost consultants. The CDD & cost consultants will review and comment the same on the shared document.
Analyse & Approve: The SPOC for Lessons Learned will arrange for the Lessons Learned session with the Stakeholders. A report shall be prepared for Sr. management on this and obtain their approval for implementation.
Store and Retrieve: The finalised Lessons Learned shall be stored/published in a ERP Repository and made available for retrieval by others for use on New and Current on-going Projects.
Find below a list of Categories under which Lessons Learned can be documented.