Part 2: The value of a lessons learned activity is in the transformation of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge,
The value of such lessons learned activities is increased when it is the result of a group reflection process (as opposed to an accumulation of lessons gathered from individuals. The numbers in the visual (in the previous post about the benefits of Pausing to Learn) are made up, meant to convey a sense of comparative magnitude of the benefits of documenting lessons. A great deal of learning happens in the process of writing lessons down, even if no one else is reading them. It is now out of people's heads and transformed into explicit knowledge.
I have described this in APQC presentation (Rogers & Fillip, 2017). Learning happens in the initial conversation that helps to articulate the context and the lessons themselves. Learning happens through knowledge synthesis as the conversation is documented (whether it's a narrative, a conversation map or a video interview). Learning happens in the review and validation process and finally learning happens when others read or are exposed to the lesson. In other words, learning happens in conversations, but these are not random conversations. These are intentional learning conversations.
The value of such lessons learned activities is increased when it is the result of a group reflection process (as opposed to an accumulation of lessons gathered from individuals. The numbers in the visual (in the previous post about the benefits of Pausing to Learn) are made up, meant to convey a sense of comparative magnitude of the benefits of documenting lessons. A great deal of learning happens in the process of writing lessons down, even if no one else is reading them. It is now out of people's heads and transformed into explicit knowledge.
I have described this in APQC presentation (Rogers & Fillip, 2017). Learning happens in the initial conversation that helps to articulate the context and the lessons themselves. Learning happens through knowledge synthesis as the conversation is documented (whether it's a narrative, a conversation map or a video interview). Learning happens in the review and validation process and finally learning happens when others read or are exposed to the lesson. In other words, learning happens in conversations, but these are not random conversations. These are intentional learning conversations.
Even if no one ever reads those lessons, at least no one will be able to say that the employees retired or left and walked out the door with all their (tacit) knowledge. And yes, I know that most of it is still in their head and can't be captured, yet a good amount of learning or knowledge transfer can happen through conversations.
The real problem is that we often don't have very good mechanisms for utilizing that explicit knowledge and we draw the wrong conclusions, which is the equivalent of failing to learn from a failure... or learning the wrong lesson from a failure. An example would be to draw the conclusion that people aren't using the lessons learned system because they haven't been trained to use it. Seriously? Well... let's not assume anything but that wouldn't be my best guess as to why no one is using the database.
There could be better utilization of lessons learned through other project processes such as reviews and risk management (Fillip, 2015). In fact, many repeated "lessons" are the result of institutional challenges that cannot be addressed at the project level and could be tackled through organizational risk management. Expecting all the benefits of lessons learned processes to come from individuals going to the database to look for lessons is just wrong headed. It's standard build-it-and-they-will-come wrong-headedness.
Reference
- Fillip, B. (2015). "Infusing Lessons Learned Throughout the Project Lifecycle," The Critical Path (pp. 14-15 & 17.
- Rogers, E. & Fillip, B. (2016). "Mapping Lessons Learned to Improve Contextual Learning at NASA." APQC Knowledge Management Webinar.
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