Lessons Forgotten PMI - Swiss - 12oct2012

Lessons
:: Forgotten
Mark Gray, MBA, PMP®, PRINCE2®
SigmaPM

PMI Switzerland, 12 October 2012
The situation
! Organisations are dealing with a rapidly changing
environment, accelerating development cycles and
increasing complexity
! Project management is struggling to get recognition as a
profession in its own right, mainly due to repeated
failures
! “Forward pass” knowledge should be a logical way of

improving – and yet is often not done
! We need to find a way to “sell” a continuous lessons-‐

learned process to project stakeholders
Information types
! Images
! Text
! Verbal
! Format & Structure

! Information is filtered by personal paradigm
! Structure of information based on type and media
Transmission “systems”
! Newspapers
! Television
! Internet
! Books
! Presentations & training

Defining Knowledge
! Knowledge: “The psychological result of perception
and learning and reasoning” (Websters online)
! Something you have observed
! That you have interpreted and stored
! That you can apply to future situations
Data to Knowledge
Wisdom
Increasing interrelationships
Knowledge
Information
Data
Increasing understanding
Individual Learning
Process
! Observation
! Recognition
! Encoding
! Storage
! Retrieval
! Application
Individual Learning
! Bound by personal paradigm
! Language, Culture, Training, ...
! Rationalisation of information received
! Experience – learning by doing

! Root = experiment
Individual Knowledge
Cycle
Applying Experiencing
Personal worldview
(Filter)
Internalizing Observing
Organisational learning
! Continuous Improvement
! Starts from the “Check” part of PDCA
! Built into process

! Modifies process – feedback loop
! Requires ownership to be clear

! As well as management involvement
Group Knowledge Cycle
Tacit
Applying Experiencing
This is the
really
important bit!
Information Collective
Transmission recognition
Sharing Acquiring
Explicit
What is a lesson?
! Observed reactions to a trigger event
! Negative or Positive
! Leading to changed outcomes
! Captured / recorded / stored / …
! Passed on to others (in the same domain)
! In short -‐ experience

Formal context
! Formal process
! Debrief at phase end
! Risk management process
! Peer reviews
! During the project
! Problem solving “nodes”

! Aka crash actions
What happens to the
Lessons?
! Often nothing at all
! Generally recorded in debrief documents
! Sometimes stored in a central database
! Occasionally used to update processes
! Seldom used in downstream projects
! Hardly ever valued!

Knowledge transmission
! Searchable database
! Knowledge forums
! Story-‐telling
! Best practice “documents”
! Process updates, common risk lists, …
! Benchmarking?
What’s the impact
! Little or none
! Same mistakes are made over and again
! Heavy process checklists

! Constricting creativity
! Occasional Eureka moments

! Perceived value is high
Understanding “value”
! That depends
! On the observer (so its relative)
! Some examples
! Financial impact
! Intellectual capital
! “Secret code” / exclusion principles
! Can be quantitative or qualitative

! Can be Extrinsic or Intrinsic
Measure the value
! LV = Σ(δT, δC, δQ)•Rκ/t
! Or should we even try?

! Connecting value to a management practice is nearly
impossible
! Excessive metrics can reduce the usefulness
! Perceived value changes over time!

! Think of the Sydney Opera House
! Knowledge has a “sell by” date
What measurements
are valid
! Try this one
! Risk normally has a value (impact cost, mitigation cost)
! Lessons can influence (re)actions on risk nodes
! Therefore lesson could equate to value of risk
! Assumes the downstream projects are sufficiently
similar to benefit from the lesson
What measurements
are valid
! Or this one
! Deep-‐sea drilling “tips” or lessons are shared
between the Shell Turbodudes CoP
! By means of this CoP, issues related to new wells
are addressed ahead of time
! Possible value in reduced “failed wells” is counted
in millions of $$’s
What measurements
are valid
! Or this one
! Many user forums have an FAQ section where
experience can be shared
! Readers can “rate” the answers found in terms of
usefulness
! Regular “best answer” contributors are
recognised by their peers, either formally or
informally
Positive drivers
! YES
! If you are able to communicate the “value added”
of the lesson
! If you can make the lesson relevant to the listener
! Or tell the “story” in an interesting way
! Including a moral
! Add some “fun”
Stakeholder engagement
Motivation
Pay me more –

I will run faster!
Potential blockers
! NO
! Lessons are often too vague or generalist
! Lessons are often too specific to one project
! There is minimal connection between the lesson and a
real value
! NIH syndrome
! Knowledge “half life”
What needs to be done
! Organisations need to instil a culture of learning,
specially in PM
! Lessons need to be distilled and shared in a

consistent manner
! Lessons need to gain recognition as a valuable

knowledge asset
Recommendation
! Use a simple process – ROADMAP for success
! Regular Review
! Open Questions
! Avoidance of Blame
! Discussion of Findings
! Management support / Measurement of
Change
! Application of Knowledge
! Process Updates
Thanks
• Thank you for your time and attention
• mailto: mark@sigma-‐pm.com
• Website: www.sigma-‐pm.com
• Twitter: @sigmapm

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Lessons

! “Forward pass” knowledge should be a logical way of

! We need to ﬁnd a way to “sell” a continuous lessons-­‐

! Format & Structure

! Presentations & training

! Rationalisation of information received

! Experience – learning by doing

! Built into process

! Requires ownership to be clear

! Captured / recorded / stored / …

! Passed on to others (in the same domain)

! In short -­‐ experience

! Problem solving “nodes”

! Generally recorded in debrief documents

! Sometimes stored in a central database

! Occasionally used to update processes

! Seldom used in downstream projects

! Hardly ever valued!

! Best practice “documents”

! Process updates, common risk lists, …

! Heavy process checklists

! Occasional Eureka moments

! Can be quantitative or qualitative

! Or should we even try?

! Perceived value changes over time!

Pay me more –

! Lessons need to be distilled and shared in a

! Lessons need to gain recognition as a valuable

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! We need to ﬁnd a way to “sell” a continuous lessons-‐

! In short -‐ experience