Lessons Learnt Report: PPMP2008, Term 2, Project Management

This report presents a comprehensive reflection on lessons learned during the PPMP2008 course, focusing on initiating and planning projects. It outlines a framework for gathering and documenting lessons learned, detailing the student's approach and the resources utilized. The report highlights two key lessons: the importance of clearly defining roles and responsibilities within a project team, and the significance of effective communication methods, particularly in relation to cost and time metrics. For each lesson, the student provides a situation analysis, reflections on the experience, and proposed improvement strategies, including how to measure the strategy's effectiveness, its achievability, relevance, and implementation timeline. The conclusion emphasizes the iterative nature of the learning process and the value of integrating managerial skills with analytical, negotiation, and leadership skills. Recommendations are provided, suggesting a continuous learning approach throughout the project management lifecycle.

Lessons Learnt
TERM 2 ASS_3
LESSONS LEARNT
Name: Insert full name
Student Number Insert student number
Campus: Insert campus or distance
Tutor: Insert tutor name
Tutorial number: Insert the tutorial number
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Lessons Learnt
Table of Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
2A. LESSONS LEARNT: FRAMEWORK.........................................................................................3
2b. LESSONS LEARNT: FRAMEWORK (con’t)..............................................................................4
3.1 Lesson 1..........................................................................................................................................5
3.2 Lesson 1: IMPROVEMENT STRATEGY.....................................................................................5
4.1 Lesson 2..........................................................................................................................................6
4.2 Lesson 2: IMPROVEMENT STRATEGY.....................................................................................7
5.1 Lesson 3..........................................................................................................................................8
5.2 Lesson 3: IMPROVEMENT STRATEGY.....................................................................................8
6. Conclusion......................................................................................................................................10
7. Recommendations..........................................................................................................................10
8. References......................................................................................................................................11
1. INTRODUCTION
The report depicts the lesson learnt during the course PPMP2008 i.e. Initiating and planning
projects. The course had defined various new terms and strategies which facilitate my overall
development as a project manager. In this report, framework for lesson learnt will be discussed
along with the 2 key lessons learnt during the course.
2A. LESSONS LEARNT: FRAMEWORK
2.1 How I planned to gather and document lessons learnt
When I planned to identify
and collect lessons learnt
Who I planned to involve
in the process of gathering
How I planned to
document lessons
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Lessons Learnt
lessons
I decided to identify lessons
throughout the course and
during the development of
the event project.
My colleagues and my
instructor were the key
resources to be involved in
the learning process.
Lesson log book was
considered to document all
the lessons learnt during the
course.
2B. LESSONS LEARNT: FRAMEWORK (CON’T)
2.2 What actually happened?
When I identified and
collected lessons learnt
Who I involved in the
process of gathering lessons
How I documented lessons
When the course started, I
found that each module has a
hierarchy of lessons. For
instance, week 8 provided
different contract and each
contract has its own
procedure and schedule for
different types of project.
This led me think that logging
lessons will be a complicated
task (Duffield & Whitty,
2015).
I used library resources to
validate my learning process
and discussed the same with
my classmates.
I changed the initial structure
of the log book to more of a
tree-like structure
3.1 LESSON 1
1. Situation 2. The situation made me 3. What I learnt from
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Lessons Learnt
feel… reflecting on the situation
The lesson came into
existence when we started
with the quality management
lecture week. It mentioned
that different contracts have
different requirements and to
identify those requirements
need to finalize the selection
criteria Gowrishankar, 2012).
The identifying the selection
criteria is full of different
risks which will impact the
future adversely in the future.
I felt that not only project
manager but the procurement
manager needs to find out the
ways through techniques like
market research, source
selection analysis to select a
contract type of a project.
However, I was quite
confused regarding my
approach but then I analysed
the situation and made the
decision to tackle the issue
with the procurement
techniques.
From this situation, I learnt
that each team member’s role
is very important in the
project. Hence, it is the main
responsibility of the project
manager to clearly define the
responsibilities so that in any
situation like the respective
resources know what exactly
to be done.
3.2 LESSON 1: IMPROVEMENT STRATEGY
1. Improvement
strategy
2. How to
measure if the
strategy works
3. Why the
strategy is
achievable
4. Relevance of
strategy to
address the
lesson
5. When the
strategy will be
implemented
To define the
roles and
responsibilities of
the resource
before starting
Measurement can
be done by
checking whether
the selection
criteria of the
Role defining and
allocating
responsibilities to
the resource is
the basic need of
The strategy will
facilitate the
understanding
between team
resources and
The strategy will
come into picture
when as soon as
procuring stage
starts in a
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Lessons Learnt
any project and
traits of a project
should also be
identify to satisfy
the procurement
needs. According
to the lecture,
EVM is aa great
technique to
monitor the pro
procuring
technique has
been performed
within 4 days of
query.
the project. After
defining roles,
resources can
communicate
using
communication
plan which is
again a basic
need of any
project.
project manager. project.
3.3 LESSON 2
1. Situation 2. The situation made me
feel…
3. What I learnt from
reflecting on the situation
The lesson came into
existence when we were
studying the communication
management plan lesson.
Therein, we came across a
part of cost and time metrics.
According to the lecture,
EVM is aa great technique to
monitor the project (Mas,
Mesquida, Jovanovic &
Barcelo, 2016).
In order to implement EVM
various costs parameters are
to be found out i.e. CV, SV,
actual budget etc. All these
parameters are calculated
through formulas which can
provide correct data only if
actual and planned cost are
correct. I felt that to find it
out all the contingencies
which may get missed during
the project should also be
documented at every stage of
the project. Hence, it is
necessary to share this with
team with efficient
communication methods like
From this situation, I learnt
that each of the
communication methods has
its own importance. In the
given situation, the best
communication method can
be face-to-face meeting only.
It is not feasible to explain
and resolve the arising
contingencies through written
mail as all team members are
required to be present at the
same time (Mascia, 2014).
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Lessons Learnt
weekly face to face meeting.
3.4 LESSON 1: IMPROVEMENT STRATEGY
1. Improvement
strategy
2. How to
measure if the
strategy works
3. Why the
strategy is
achievable
4. Relevance of
strategy to
address the
lesson
5. When the
strategy will be
implemented
Communication
methods should
be decided before
starting and
ending the
project. The
focus should be
more on
identifying the
implementation
method of face-
to-face meeting.
Measurement can
be done by
checking whether
all team members
are well-aware of
cost
modifications
going on in the
project i.e. there
is no conflict
among them.
After defining the
communication
method,
communication
plan can be
figured out and it
is feasible
because it forms
the base of any
project.t
The strategy will
facilitate the
keep all the team
members on
same platform
and that too face-
to-face
The strategy will
come into picture
when as soon as
contingency
starts arising in
the project.
6. CONCLUSION
The learning process throughput the course was not a straight process. After identifying every
lesson, validating it, finding out its relevance and then documenting is, is in itself a learning.
Different weeks of the course taught us different lesson with different depths and complexities. The
strategies mentioned in the course depicted that managerial skills can be collaborated with the
analytical, negotiation, communication and leadership skills to find solutions of the project issues.
The learning process is a time-consuming task and is tedious but they are essential for all aspiring
project managers like me (McClory, Read & Labib, 2017).
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Lessons Learnt
7. RECOMMENDATIONS
Learning lesson report recommends that there are lessons to be learnt at every step of the project
management lifecycle starting from initiating a project to its closure. The course shows that there is
an advanced learning process involved in all parts of the project management. The plans include
communication plan, resource management plan, risk management plan, change management plan,
etc. They provide management a platform to conduct effective monitoring and controlling of the
project. Also, the chances of success of the project gets increased when the project is conducted
following the principles mentioned in the lectures of the course.
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Lessons Learnt
REFERENCES
Duffield, S., & Whitty, S. (2015). Developing a systemic lessons learned knowledge model for
organisational learning through projects. International Journal Of Project Management,
33(2), 311-324. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2014.07.004
Gowrishankar. (2012). Learning from Lessons Learned: Project Management Research Program.
American Journal Of Economics And Business Administration, 4(1), 13-22. doi:
10.3844/ajebasp.2012.13.22
Mas, A., Mesquida, A., Jovanovic, M., & Barcelo, J. (2016). Lessons learned from 4-year
empowering project management with TALAIA OpenPPM. Journal Of Software: Evolution
And Process, 28(11), 981-989. doi: 10.1002/smr.1827
Mascia, A. (2014). Project manager: leader, influencer and conflict manager. PROJECT MANAGER
(IL), (20), 19-23. doi: 10.3280/pm2014-020007
McClory, S., Read, M., & Labib, A. (2017). Conceptualising the lessons-learned process in project
management: Towards a triple-loop learning framework. International Journal Of Project
Management, 35(7), 1322-1335. doi: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2017.05.006
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