ABSTRACT
Before your project team disperses and those fond memories fade, it is standard practice for the project manager to facilitate the “lessons learned” exercise. I do not know how often this happens in reality, other than my own experience in which the frequency is low. This is partly because the employees move on to new assignments and consultants head out to new environments. Still, a wealth of opportunity for personal and professional growth can be realized by spending time reviewing the project from the simple perspective of “how could we have done things better?” This process should not to be confused with rehashing the more glorious or silly moments over beers with your buddies. Instead, this should be treated with the same honesty and sense of urgency as the other key tasks you sweated out during the life of the now expiring initiative.
