Learning Lessons from a Completed Communications Project

LEARNING LESSONS

Teresa S. Stover

from a Completed Communications Project

OVERVIEW

How Lessons Learned Help

Obtaining Lessons Learned

Documenting Lessons Learned

Using Past Lessons Learned

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ROOM TO TALK

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20+ years as a consultant

•Technical writing

•Project management

•Author of 15 books

STC Senior Member

•Consulting and Independent Contracting SIG

•Willamette (Oregon) chapter

BY ANY OTHER WORD

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“Lessons Learned”

“Post Mortem”

“Debrief”

“Project Implementation Review”

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?

What worked well

What didn’t work

What can be improved

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WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO?

Collect input

Record feedback

Share knowledge

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WHO’S INVOLVED IN LESSONS LEARNED?

•Department head

•Project manager

•Team leader Leaders:

•Team member

•Writer

•Designer

•Developer

Practitioners:

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WHAT KINDS OF PROJECTS BENEFIT?

User interface/user experience design

Instructional design

Training development and delivery

Website design and launch

Single source project

Online help

Web content development

Publication project 8

HOW LESSONS LEARNED HELP

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HOW LESSONS LEARNED HELP

Build on success of

earlier projects

Mitigate known risks

Adjust the approach or

process

Improve tools

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HOW LESSONS LEARNED HELP

Foster continuous

improvement

Advance professional

development

Cultivate organizational

maturity

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HOW LESSONS LEARNED HELP

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Schedule

Scope

People

Budget

Risk

Quality

Process

Tools

OBTAINING LESSONS LEARNED

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OBTAINING LESSONS LEARNED - OVERVIEW

Collecting data throughout

the project

Preparing for the lessons

learned meeting

Conducting the lessons

learned meeting

Reducing post mortem

anxiety

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COLLECTING DATA THROUGHOUT THE PROJECT

Periodic team meetings

Status reports

Issues tracking

Your observation

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PREPARING FOR THE LESSONS LEARNED MEETING

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Location

Date(s) and time(s)

Clear agenda

Participants

Invitation

Facilitator

Scribe

PREPARING FOR THE LESSONS LEARNED MEETING

What was the most fulfilling aspect?

What was the most difficult problem?

How did you solve it?

What process or tool can we improve, and how?

Should we enter the STC competition? Explain.

How did it go with our SMEs?

Do you have a technique that improved results?

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CONDUCTING THE LESSONS LEARNED MEETING

Set and follow your clear agenda

Meeting goal

Expected outcome

Topics

Time limits

Start and end on time

Emphasize the meeting goal and outcome

Outline the meeting structure

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CONDUCTING THE LESSONS LEARNED MEETING

Review ground rules

One speaker at a time

Staying on topic

Allow everyone to contribute

Maintain time limit

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REDUCING POST MORTEM ANXIETY

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REDUCING POST MORTEM ANXIETY

Consider additional ground rules

Keep it positive

Be respectful

Be constructive

Use “I” statements

Practice active listening

Let the speaker finish

Offer solutions and recommendations

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REDUCING POST MORTEM ANXIETY

Intention is not to place blame

Intention is to discover and remember

Keep the focus on solutions for the future

Continuous improvement

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REDUCING POST MORTEM ANXIETY

Professional development

Organizational growth

Preventing a reinvention

of the wheel

Instead, improving on the wheel

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REDUCING POST MORTEM ANXIETY

Make the final question positive

Summarize great results

Speak to successful teaming

Celebrate at meeting’s end

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REDUCING POST MORTEM ANXIETY

Alternatives for difficult situations

Meet one on one

Meet in smaller groups where there’s more trust

Submit questionnaires in writing

Submit questionnaires anonymously

Have only peers present in the meeting

Don’t include names, titles, or other identifiers in

resulting report or knowledge base

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DOCUMENTING LESSONS LEARNED: OVERVIEW

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DOCUMENTING LESSONS LEARNED: OVERVIEW

Processing the mass of information

Recording the key take-aways

Distributing lessons learned

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PROCESSING THE MASS OF INFORMATION

The Simpler Report

Project Overview

The Lessons Learned

Process

Successes and Strengths of

the Project

Challenges and

Weaknesses of the Project

Recommendations and

Solutions

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PROCESSING THE MASS OF INFORMATION

More Detailed Report

By phase

By module

By disciplines

By constraint

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PROCESSING THE MASS OF INFORMATION

Knowledge Base

Spreadsheet or database

Links to documents

Collecting throughout the

project

Collecting across multiple

projects

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RECORDING KEY TAKE-AWAYS

Strengths

Weaknesses

•What can and should be repeated in the future

•Recommendations on improving strengths

•Specifics of what didn’t work well

•Avoid blame

•Focus on solutions and risk avoidance

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RECORDING KEY TAKE-AWAYS

Emphasize continuous

process improvement

Recommend

root cause analysis

Use keywords and

informational contact

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DISTRIBUTING LESSONS LEARNED

Inclusion in the project

archives

Team members

Management

Others in the organization

Different versions for

different audiences

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USING PAST LESSONS LEARNED

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USING PAST LESSONS LEARNED

Prevent the “filed and

forgotten” syndrome

Lessons learned are a

gold mine

Solutions are a leg up

for new projects

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USING PAST LESSONS LEARNED

Make research of past

lessons learned a part

of every new project

startup

Share with colleagues

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QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?

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TELL ME MORE

Have you had a particularly bad experience with a lessons learned process?

Have you had a particularly good experience?

What do you like the best? The least?

What do you find most valuable about the lessons learned process?

What elements of a lessons learned process do you prefer?

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REFERENCES

Your Project Management

Coach

Microsoft Project 2010

Inside Out

Project Management Body of

Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)

Projects In Practice blog:

www.projectsinpractice.com

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THANK YOU!

teresa@stoverwriting.com

www.stoverwriting.com

www.projectsinpractice.com

Teresa Stover on LinkedIn

@stoverts on Twitter

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