Lessons learned
The lessons-learned register captures what worked, what didn't, and what should be different next time. It's the only thing that turns "we already knew that" into actual organisational learning.
When to log a lesson
- At every project closure (mandatory)
- When something noteworthy happens mid-flight (good or bad)
- After a major incident, change request, or scope shift
- When a team member moves on (capture their tacit knowledge)
Create a lesson
From a project → Governance → Lessons → + New lesson:
- Title — "Always check supplier capacity before signing"
- Category — Planning / Execution / Suppliers / People / Comms / Tech / Other
- What happened — facts, no blame
- Why it matters — the consequence (cost, delay, quality impact)
- Recommendation — what should we do differently
- Owner — who'll champion this change
Org-wide lessons library
Lessons are stored at organisation level, not just project level. Across all projects you can:
- Filter by category to find relevant lessons
- Search by keyword
- See which lessons have been adopted (closed) vs open
Closing the loop
A lesson should move from logged → adopted (someone changed something) → closed (the change is now part of standard practice).
Lessons that stay open for years aren't lessons — they're complaints.
Tips
- Blameless. Lessons that name and shame don't get logged in the future. Frame everything as system-level, not person-level.
- Generalise. "The Brown account caused us trouble" isn't useful. "Customer projects with <8 weeks lead time always slip" is.
- Review at every kick-off. Each new project should start by reading the lessons from the previous 3 similar projects.