BA Techniques: Lessons Learned

Purpose

The purpose of the lessons learned process is to compile and document successes, opportunities for improvement, failures, and recommendations for improving the performance of the future projects or project phases.

Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®)

The lessons learned process is a technique through which we can learn from our mistakes and successes and as a result we can maximize our performances over time. The lessons learned sessions are held near the completion of the project and its more beneficial to hold them during the course of the projects. The objective of the lessons learned sessions is to share and apply the knowledge derived from both positive and negative experiences. Positive experiences are the things that we would like to continue doing in the future. On the other hand, negative experiences are those things that we should never do it again. It is best to establish a structure for the lessons learned technique which includes initiation of the project, recording the ideas regarding the project, organizing the recorded ideas, and then looking for the actionable opportunities.

The Lessons learned session helps to identify either changes to business analysis processes and deliverable or successes that can be incorporated into future work. These lessons learned technique can also be beneficial at the close of any milestone within the effort. The lessons learned sessions can include any format that is acceptable to the key stakeholders. It can be either formal facilitated meetings with a set of agendas and meeting roles or the informal working sessions. The lessons learned technique can keep the project on the right track and help the organization avoid repeating the same mistakes over and over again. It encourages the implementation and enforcement of beneficial practices.

Some of the articles related to Lessons Learned techniques are as follows,

• A Guide to Lessons Learned Technique - https://www.conservationgateway.org/ConservationPlanning/partnering/cpc/Documents/Capturing_Lessons_Learned_Final.pdf
• Learning from Lessons Learned - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258933493_Learning_from_Lessons_Learned_Project_Management_Research_Program
• Lessons Learned - https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/lessons-learned-next-level-communicating-7991
• Documentation of Lessons Learned Technique - http://www.vra.com/kmportal/cops/pm/lessonslearned.pdf
• A Lessons Learned Project - https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/293253main_62682main_jerry_madden_forum7.pdf
• Sharing of Lessons Learned Technique - https://www.ocimf.org/media/112088/Sharing-Lessons-Learned-from-Incidents.pdf
• A Simple Framework for Lessons Learned - https://toggl.com/blog/lessons-learned-for-project-managers
• Practical Guide for Lessons Learned Technique - https://www.tacticalprojectmanager.com/lessons-learned/
• Good Practices in Lessons Learned - http://www.reefbase.org/gefll/pdf/lessonslearnedbrief_English.pdf
• Lessons Learned from Evaluation - https://usaidlearninglab.org/sites/default/files/resource/files/Lessons-Learned-rpt_bettereval.pdf

The lessons learned template serves as a valuable tool for use by other project managers within the organization who are assigned the similar projects. The project managers use this document to determine who the project team members were in order to get the feedback for planning their projects in the future. The lessons learned session include the following,

• Business analysis activities
• The final solution, service, or the product
• Technology that was introduced
• Impact to the organizational processes
• Performance Expectations and the results
• Positive and the negative variances
• Root causes impacting the performance results
• Recommendation for the behavioral approach.

The advantages of using the lessons learned techniques are,

• Useful in identifying the opportunities and the areas of improvement
• Reduces the risk for future actions
• Provides the value and the metrics as a result of the effort
• Sharing the information among the project team members

Some of the books for Lessons Learned techniques,

• Lessons Learned from the Projects | Titus Winters | https://www.amazon.com/Software-Engineering-Google-Lessons-Programming/dp/1902486731/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=lessons+learned+books&qid=1592291756&sr=8-1
• Lessons Learned Techniques | Nora Roberts | https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Learned-Nora-Roberts-ebook/dp/B07K1J2VY2/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=lessons+learned+books&qid=1592291946&sr=8-10
• Lessons Learned: A Context Driven Approach | Cem Kaner | https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Learned-Software-Testing-Context-Driven/dp/0471081124/ref=sr_1_15?dchild=1&keywords=lessons+learned+books&qid=1592291946&sr=8-15
• The Lessons Learned Handbook | Nick Milton | https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Learned-Handbook-Approaches-Experience/dp/1843345870/ref=sr_1_32?dchild=1&keywords=lessons+learned+books&qid=1592291946&sr=8-32
• Lessons Learned | Antonio Stevenson | https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Learned-Antonio-L-Stevenson/dp/147875902X/ref=sr_1_69?dchild=1&keywords=lessons+learned+books&qid=1592292220&sr=8-69