The Lessons Learned Handbook

Dr Nick Milton is a director and co-founder of Knoco Ltd - a Knowledge Management consultancy comprised of seasoned knowledge management practitioners, mentors, and coaches. Knoco Ltd has been delivering successful and sustained Knowledge Management implementation to clients since 1999.

• List of figures and tablesAcknowledgementsPrefaceChapter 1: Introduction – learning lessonsLearning as a basic instinctLearning in organisationsLessons learned systems in organisationsHow well do they work?The value of learning lessonsChapter 2: Elements of a lesson learning systemLesson learning approaches in the 15th centuryWhat is a ‘lesson learned’?The steps in learning a lessonClosing the learning loopTrial and error, or trial and success?Survey resultsChapter 3: Lessons learned approachesFormal collect systemsInformal collect systemsFormal connect systemsInformal connect systemsA blended approachChapter 4: Principles of lesson identificationWhen to identify lessons?The principles of lesson identificationAiming for the ‘quality lesson’Examples of poor lessonsRecommendation:Stories and lessonsSelf-identification of lessons versus lesson identification processesThe questioning process – the metaphor of the treeRoles and accountabilities in lesson identificationChapter 5: Processes of lessons identifiedPost-project reviews or retrospectsAfter action reviewsIndividual learning interviewsLearning historiesEvaluations and assessmentsIncident investigationChapter 6: Writing down the lessonsEach lesson stands aloneThe lesson needs to be easy to follow and well structuredHow much context?Who is the audience?AttachmentsQuality assurance and validationLessons must lead to actionChapter 7: Taking actionWill there always be an action?What sort of actions are needed?How do you decide the action?Who assigns the action?Escalating the actionClosing lessonsChapter 8: Process ownership and process updateWho owns the processes?Local vs company process ownersThe role of the process ownerEngagement with the learning cycleLessons workflowValidation and escalationDocumenting processesChapter 9: Ensuring lessons and updated processes are re-appliedBroadcasting new lessons and process improvementsProcess improvements and trainingProcess review as part of operationsChapter 10: Technology to support lesson learningLesson repositoriesKnowledge librariesPublish and search technologyTaggingChapter 11: Sharing and seeking the unwritten lessonsCommunities of practicePeer assistBaton passingKnowledge handoverPromoting conversationChapter 12: The governance of lesson learningA governance frameworkMake corporate expectations clearLesson learning systemsMonitoring and measurementThe supporting organisationChapter 13: The principles and processes of safety investigationsWhat happened and why?The investigation processThe final reportChapter 14: Learning lessons in networks at Mars, IncLearn from where we areLearn from what we knowLearn from the past six monthsFormalising the learningSummaryChapter 15: Wikis as part of a learning system; a conversation with Peter KemperChapter 16: How not to learn lessonsChapter 17: ConclusionsIndex

"The book is very practical and contains lots of advice, justified, how to perform each of the steps suggested in the process of lessons learned." --Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning"Valuable case histories of real-life events pepper the chapters, which systematically outline and summarise all the key steps and alternatives in the process in a clear, easy-to-read manner." --Australian Academic and Research Libraries