In one of my last blogs, I explained why forward looking and SMART project planning and target setting are a must for successful goal achievement.
But that's not all – also the retrospective, in form of lessons learned is vital, as every project delivers valuable experiences. Both positive and negative. Lessons learned play a vital role in the success of a project because they make us to learn from past mistakes and multiply successes.
By not learning from project failures, we are doomed to repeat similar situations. By not maximizing on project successes, we miss opportunities to implement good processes and practices to successfully complete existing and future work.
The lessons-learned process in project management primarily enables organizations to create a culture of knowledge sharing. This process also promotes the use of existing knowledge to achieve project goals and contribute to organizational learning.
Here are my personal lessons learned over the past year from my project work in Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy and the Middle East:
- Project teams in the right staffing, with the right skill set and know-how as well as the corresponding experience are guarantees for success.
- They still exist – project managers with vision and a fair/partnership approach. Working together as partners on an equal footing has a positive impact on time, quality, and team spirit.
- Never lose confidence and trust. With a positive mindset, the almost impossible becomes possible.
- Every individual in the team is important. The effort of each team member is rewarded – and in the end the project benefits!
What are your project lessons learned?
And stay tuned, as we will be diving deeper into this topic soon.
PM&C: Competence for your project