Common Pitfalls and Shortcomings of Lessons Learned Programs

While many organizations attempt to implement a Lessons Learned program, very few reach a state of becoming a “Learning Organization.” Surveys conducted by Knoco show that when asked how effective the program was, the average self-assessed score is 48%. Much of the problem is a lack of sufficient skilled and appropriate people, assessment and implementation processes, technology and governance; but even when these are in place, the single most common problem is that lessons are treated as observations and rarely used to drive lasting change. In addition, we find issues such as a lack of governance around the lesson-learning process, the lessons database is seen as a repository not a lessons management system, quality control is needed at the input stage, and ensuring sufficient evaluation. This chapter describes these problems and outlines some mitigation strategies to shift observations and knowledge capture to a more applied implementation level.