Most implementations of Integrated Workplace Management Systems are completed using some sort of project management methodology.
Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. It is often closely related to and sometimes conflated with program management. Source: Wikipedia
Although various methodologies exist, most of them are considered to be based on the traditional phased approach that includes the following stages:
- Project initiation stage;
- Project planning or design stage;
- Project execution or production stage;
- Project monitoring and controlling systems;
- Project completion stage.
In these methodologies accountability is an ever present part of each stage. As we seek to improve your existing IWMS implementation today’s task has to do with writing a lessons learned report.
Today’s Teaching
As described project management is a staged, or phased, pursuit of objectives and goals through planned activities. Project management in IWMS (as with most projects) is all about two things; time and money. Neither one of them should be wasted. Therefore, it is extremely important to have a predictable and consequent methodology in place to guard both time and money.
Although I could write an entire 31 day Challenge about Project Management, today I will focus especially on the project closing stage.
In the project closing phase you basically want to know two things:
- How did we perform?
- How can we improve?
As with most implementations of Enterprise systems, Integrated Workplace Management Systems implementations are complex, non-singular implementations.
The above implicates that after the initial implementation there will be more and that is correct. After the initial go-live of the system you will start implementing additional functionality and gradually expand the system. If that is the case a lessons learned report can support you tremendously.
Lessons learned report
A Lessons learned report is a relevant collection of thoughts, ideas and notes with the sole purpose to increase what you do well and reduce don’t do so well.
Whether you are working in the IT department, Facilities Management or Real Estate, you don’t want to reinvent the wheel. If there is knowledge available about a particular approach you might as well use it.
Benefits
Writing a lessons learned report has a lot of benefits for your organization including:
Cost Reduction
Since mistakes sometimes are quite expensive, and more important could be easily prevented with the correct information, a reduction in mistakes automatically leads to a cost reduction.
Efficiency Gains
As you centrally store these lessons learned reports they are accessible for all employees entitled to see them at the moment they need that particular information.
Continuous Improvement
By constantly optimizing your performance within your projects and distributing that knowledge, your organization will continuously improve itself.
Today’s Task
If your project has been closed already but you haven’t written a lessons learned report this is your chance. Your task today is to write a lessons learned report.
Although there are quite some templates out there I would suggest writing your report according to the following structure:
- Acknowledgements
- Management Summary
- Introduction
- Project
- Lessons Learned
- Methodology
- Source of Information
- Acronyms used
- Output
- Functional Output
- Technical Output
- Project Output
- Results
- Conclusions
- Limitations and Next Steps
- Bibliography
On average a lessons learned report shouldn’t be more than 20 pages. Pay special attention to the management summary as that is where your boss will be looking at.
Good luck
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