Definition
Lessons Learned, German for “lesson learned”, is a term that originates from project management. It defines the acquisition of knowledge and insights gained during practical work on projects, which is also subsequently documented. The goal of Lessons Learned is to learn from experiences and mistakes in order to make better use of these insights in the future.
Process of Lessons Learned
The process of Lessons Learned usually takes place in three phases:
-
Lessons Identified:
- Lessons Identified refers to the recognition and recording of problems, intentions, and mistakes.
-
Lessons Analyzed:
- Lessons Analyzed defines the analysis of these findings from Lessons Identified. Why did this not work? Under what conditions did this not work?
-
Lessons Learned:
- Lessons Learned stands for the result of what the company has learned from the situation. This is finally documented so that others affected will not be confronted with the same situation in the future.
Documentation of Lessons Learned
The documentation of the lessons learned is best done in the form of checklists, elaborated document templates such as quality management reports, or software tools that support the project process step by step.
At a certain point in time, these Lessons Learned experiences should be brought together, identified, and analyzed. This works, for example, in the project review, i.e. after the completion of a process or project, or in the retrospective when a sprint has been carried out in Scrum.