Lessons Learned

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VERSION HISTORY
Version # Date Author Key Differences

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 6
2 Lessons Learned Approach .............................................................................................. 6
3 Lessons Learned Table .................................................................................................... 8

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INTRODUCTION TO THE LESSONS LEARNED TEMPLATE

Lessons learned is a form of continuous improvement in which we learn from both the successes and
mistakes of prior endeavors. In order for an organization to improve future performance, it is necessary
to formally identify, acknowledge, analyze, and document the lessons learned. This is especially true
with projects where resources typically transition to other projects at completion. Collecting lessons
learned over time adds to the organization’s body of knowledge related to project management and
provides a rich source of information for current and future work.

Lessons learned is conducted at the end of a project, or it may take place between project phases to
make the lessons learned available for later phases. This lessons learned template will assist the project
team in identifying and recording lessons learned. The template will guide you through the questions of
what worked well, what did not work well, and what needs to be done differently. The objective of
documenting lessons learned is to identify both the positive and negative lessons learned from the
project, as well as to recommend corrective actions based on negative lessons learned observations.

The lessons learned template with instructions contains guidelines for properly completing lessons
learned. Additional hints, examples, and suggestions are included within each of the template sections
and/or tables where key information is recorded.

Template style conventions are as follows:

Style Convention
Normal text Indicates placeholder text that can be used for
any project.
[Instructional text in brackets] Indicates text that is be replaced/edited/deleted
by the user]
Example text in italics Indicates text that might be
replaced/edited/deleted by the user

As you complete the template, please remember to delete all instructional text (including this section)
and update the following items, as applicable:

 title page
 version history
 table of contents
 headers
 footers

Update the document to a minor version (e.g., 1.1, 1.2) when minimal changes are made and a major
version (e.g., 2.0, 3.0) when significant changes are made.

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Project Sample Library:

The CA-PMF has a Project Sample Library that contains real-world project artifacts from approved
projects that you can reference to help you complete CA-PMF templates. Visit the CA-PMF website to
access the Project Sample Library.

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1 Introduction
[Provide a brief description of the purpose of lessons learned and details of what is included in the
document.]

Lessons learned allows a project team to retrospectively contemplate and document the failures and
successes experienced on a project to facilitate the knowledge transfer from one team to the next.
Capturing this information in a formal fashion creates an artifact that can be utilized during future
endeavors to mitigate the chances of repeating a mistake. Project Managers will use this document as
they begin planning new projects by instilling the lessons learned in their approach to the Project
Management Lifecycle (PMLC). This lessons learned document includes input from the project team as to
what went well, what did not go well, why, and what could have been done differently during each phase
of the PMLC. These lessons learned were captured during the Closing Process Phase of the project.

2 Lessons Learned Approach

[Describe the process that was utilized to capture these lessons learned, including the approach (such as
group brainstorming, surveys, interviews, participants), and what types of information was gathered.
The table with all of the lessons learned will follow.]

All project team members and key Stakeholders participated in lessons learned for this project. One
interview was conducted with the Project Sponsor and three facilitated brainstorming sessions were
held: one with staff, one with management, and one with oversight and key Stakeholders. The separate
sessions ensured that there were only peer-to-peer relationships within each group to facilitate open and
honest communication. A non-project team member was used to facilitate the meetings to prevent any
bias in leading the discussion.

The project team members were asked to identify and delineate lessons learned by process phase
(Concept, Initiating, Planning, Executing, and Closing) and by the following categories:

 Cost
 Communication
 Documentation
 Processes
 Procurements/Contracts
 Quality
 Resources/Staffing
 Schedule/Time
 Scope/Requirements
 Tools

To encourage the thought process, the facilitator prompted the participants with the following questions
in relation to each process phase and category identified above:

 What worked well for this project or for the project team?
 What did not work well for this project or for the project team?

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 What could have been done over or differently?

 What surprises did the team have to deal with?
 What project circumstances were not anticipated?
 Were the project goals attained? If not, what changes need to be made to meet goals in the
future?

For the facilitated brainstorming sessions, large sheets of paper were placed around the room, one for
each category. Participants were provide with sticky notes to capture their lessons learned. The
participants placed the notes on each sheet of paper, making sure to annotate the process phase where
it was applicable. The participants collaboratively discussed each comment to further define the lesson
learned and also to ensure that there was a recommendation included. All lessons learned are
documented in the table below. Where there was repetition and similar themes across multiple lessons
learned, those lessons learned have been consolidated into a single lesson learned.

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3 Lessons Learned Table

[Complete the following table. Identify the process phase (Concept, Initiating, Planning, Executing or Closing), the categories (such as cost,
communication, documentation, processes, procurements/contracts, quality, resources/staffing, schedule/time, scope/requirements, and
tools), the lesson learned, a description of the lesson learned, and a recommendation to implement the lesson learned.]

ID Process Phase Category Lesson Learned Description Recommendation

1 Planning Resources Not enough staff The Planning Process Phase The full scope of activities
for this project took during the Planning Process
significant effort to develop Phase needs to be taken into
plans and methodology, and consideration when
to navigate the Project resourcing the work. If
Approval Lifecycle. Only two additional resources are not
resources were allocated for available, the schedule must
this work – the Project be pushed out.
Manager and an analyst.
There were too many
concurrent work streams for
the two resources to
complete.
2 Executing Scope/Requirements Too many new During the project Project scope needs to be
requirements development phase, the locked down during project
business owners consistently development, or
introduced new management needs to
requirements into the scope acknowledge the additional
of the project without work and re-baseline the
adjusting the schedule schedule. Staff cannot
milestones. The project was continually absorb additional
continually missing work to maintain the
milestones to accommodate schedule.
the additional work.

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ID Process Phase Category Lesson Learned Description Recommendation

3 Executing Tools Document The document management Time needs to be allocated to
management system used on the project configure the document
system was difficult was sufficient during the management system to be
Planning Concept Phase more user friendly, or another
when there were a limited tool with greater functionality
number of project needs to be used.
documents. However, during
the Executing Process Phase,
a lot more project
documents were developed
and stored in the system. It
became difficult to find
documents.

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