Learning from projects

Abstract

The ‘learning organisation’ is frequently emphasised in the literature and in practice, and this is particularly important for project-oriented organisations. However, experience tells us that organisations tend not to learn adequately from project experiences. This paper reviews some of the work seeking to model and explain the behaviour of complex projects, which explains why lessons are difficult to learn from such projects—not the easy and obvious lessons but the lessons about complex non-intuitive project behaviours. From there it looks at why projects are frequently not reviewed, and seeks to offer practical proposals for carrying out reviews, using small models to enable lessons to be learned that provide understanding (rather than simply data), and distributing that learning around the organisation.

Keywords:

• project management
• learning
• feedback

Acknowledgements

The author is indebted to the post-project claims team within which he works (Professor Colin Eden, Professor Fran Ackermann and Dr Susan Howick). He is also acknowledges the suggestions of the anonymous referees, one of whom is referred to in the paper above.