Lessons Learned

Whereas closure is the final step as far as the client is concerned, for the project manager there is still one task left.

It may help you to understand the value of this exercise if you view the project manager as just one of many project managers, all working in the same company.

Once the project has been closed, the project manager will review how the project went. The idea is to identify two lists:

• What went well in the project? If something went well, then it’s worth doing it the same way in the future
• What didn’t go so well? If something didn’t go well, we probably shouldn’t try to do it the same way again in the future, unless we understand why it didn’t go well, and can address that

If many project managers feed back this sort of information, their organisation is able to rapidly build a library of known ‘good practise’ and ‘known issues to avoid’. The content of this library is likely to vary somewhat between organisations, as some of the detail will relate to the staff or resources they have at their disposal.