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Lesson Learned Log
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The Lessons Learned Log is simply a list of the lessons that have been learned during the project. The Project Manager should establish and maintain a Lessons Learned Log throughout the project lifecycle. All staff involved in the project should be encouraged to tell the Project Manager about any lessons learned so that they can be added to the Lessons Learned Log.
You should record:
- If the lesson was something to repeat or to avoid in the future
- A description of the lesson and the context it was learned in. This should Include, where applicable, brief instructions in how to repeat or avoid the lesson in the future.
- A scope for whether the lesson is valuable to just your team, your service or the Council as a whole.
Why record lessons?
Negative lessons often cost us to resolve and positive lessons may have saved time and money. If we record these we create a legacy of knowledge to assist in subsequent projects so that they can recreate our successes and avoid our mistakes. To this end managers should create an environment where people feel that they can record any lessons they have learned without fear of any undue criticism.
When should you record lessons?
Ideally, you should record lessons as soon as they occur; this is when they are fresh in your mind and the time you will give the best description. However, this isn’t always practical, so it is acceptable to wait until the end of your current stage before recording them in the log.
The next section introduces a place to store developments as they happen in a project, the Issue Log.
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