Lesson Learned: The Importance of Followup

I was just reading an article about how the DHS (Department of Human Services) never followed up on 17 of the 36 recommendations that were made after child deaths under their watch. The recommendations were supposed to lead to policy changes.

It's a harsh reminder that, while it's nice to gather lessons learned at the end of a project, the lessons are entirely useless if they're "put back in the drawer" with the rest of the project archives.

Lessons learned are supposed to either lead to permanent policy changes or changes in future similar projects. It's important to identify any actions to be taken as a result of lessons learned, along with a clear owner and target date. Ideally, project audits should look to see that lessons are followed up on.

This was an extreme case, but it should serve as a reminder to all of us who are associated with fostering best practice project management processes.