Reflective Report: Lessons Learnt in PPMP20008, Term 2

This report details a student's reflection on lessons learned throughout a project management course, specifically focusing on the PPMP20008 unit. The student outlines a framework for identifying and documenting lessons learned, encompassing the planning, implementation, and verification phases of a project. The report highlights three key lessons: the importance of risk planning, effective implementation techniques, and the significance of verification and validation processes. For each lesson, the student describes the situation, their feelings, and the key learning derived. Furthermore, the report proposes concrete improvement strategies, including stakeholder engagement, creating relevant metrics, and reporting on verification and validation. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of documentation and continuous learning throughout the project lifecycle, and how these practices can contribute to the success of future projects. The student also emphasizes the importance of the project plan as a guide for all project activities from start to end.

Running Head: INITIATING AND PLANNING PROJECTS 1
Initiating and Planning Projects
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

INITIATING AND PLANNING PROJECTS 2
Introduction
In each project learning has to occur. When undertaking the project there certain lesson
that are acquired and learned. In this sense, learning occurs from the experiences as well as the
skills that are acquired from other people. Irrespective of one’s position in a project be it project
leaders, team members and stakeholders they all learn different lessons from the project and
through reviewing of the lesson learned it allows an individual to make decision regarding the
manner in which to make use of the attained skills and knowledge (Harris, Roussel, Dearman, &
Thomas, 2018). Basically, another significant aspect after learning certain lesson from project
there is need to share these lessons with other project teams to avoid repeating same mistakes
and also allow project teams to utilize meaningful practices attained from the project. Indeed,
through sharing lessons learned, project members get to learn new and superior practices in
forthcoming projects (Kerzner, 2018). In this regard, the lessoned attained in this course project
they will be used to enhance future projects and the current project.
Nevertheless, learning should start from the project inception and not wait until the
project is completed for an individual to begin learning. Thus learning is a process which has to
progress from one project phase to another because each phase has its unique lesson to learn that
could not be similar to those in the following phase. Hence the most appropriate time to begin
discussing modules learned is at the course inception. The main goal of initiating and planning
phase in any project deals with outline of the activities that will be undertaken to deliver the
anticipated product. This helps to develop a solid foundation for the project before resources
allocation. This phase allows all stakeholders to comprehend the intent of the project, why it is
being carried out and the way the outcome will be realized. Similar, initiation aid in allocation of
responsibility to each stakeholder to ensure they are all commit their selves to delivering the

INITIATING AND PLANNING PROJECTS 3
project. All key project elements are reviewed at this stage to allow all partakers enough
introductory knowledge.
2. Lesson Learnt Framework
2.1 How I planned to gather and document lesson learnt
Getting started: Firstly, lessons to be learned are introduced to the project during initiation period
as a point to refer, then historical information that was previously collected is utilized as input
for purposes of planning (Stark, 2015). This information is executed at planning stage. To
examine useful information I used the following process for my new project under schedule.
Identified past similar project: Lessons learned from past projects are only relevant if the project
is similar to the past.
Gathering useful materials: If a similar project is identified, the planning group should collect
useful data and information from those projects such as data for projecting the work effort and
identifying appropriate tasks.
Determine possible mitigation strategies: Mitigation strategies are integrated in the new project.
When I planned to identify
and collect lessons learnt
Who I planned to involve in
the process of gathering
lessons
How I planned to document
lessons
Isolating similar projects Project members,
stakeholders, project sponsor
and project managers
I will seek for this
information from a range of
sources like knowledge

INITIATING AND PLANNING PROJECTS 4
management systems, project
management information
systems and project
documentations such as
notebooks, project charters
and scope statements
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
Describing the project plan to
core stakeholders and discussing
its main features
Project Team members,
sponsors and project manager
I documented lessons learned
with the help of a project plan.
Project is a guide to all project
activities right from the start to
the end.
3.1 Lesson 1
1. Situation 2. The situation made me
feel…
3. What I learnt from
reflecting on the situation
Design stage Design stage projects by
developing extensive
Project are aimed at ensure
they achieve user

INITIATING AND PLANNING PROJECTS 5
specifications which focus on
physical solution to the user’s
requirements and
satisfactions.
requirements and
satisfactions.
3.2 Lesson 1: Improvement Strategy
Risk Planning: Planning for risks in a project is a critical part of initiation process since
successful projects consists of risk identification, risk analysis, and risk mitigation strategies. The
risk plan should align with the project management plan (Hazır, 2015). A risk register is used to
monitor and trail any risks in the entire project lifecycle. The project team particularly project
administrators should be involved in risk planning process (Hopkinson, 2017). A risk plan
consists of the following steps:
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
Identify risk Engage
stakeholders in
brainstorming
session
It is most sure
way to figure out
if the align with
user’s needs
Identifying risk
help to predict
features that could
hinder the project
success early
enough to avoid
When the project
kicks-off.

INITIATING AND PLANNING PROJECTS 6
them
Conduct
qualitative risk
analysis
Perform a risk
analysis by
calcifying them
based on their
severity and
probability of
occurrence over a
tailored risk scale
Qualitative risk is
measurable
against a tailored
risk scale
Categorise risks
impacts and
record them in a
risk register
When the project
has just kicked
off.
4.1 Lesson 2
4. Implementation techniques
Creating relevant metrics measures that have the ability to quantify project actions application
processes. Provide stakeholders, project teams and administrative management with worthwhile
feedback regarding the progress of the project (Papke-Shields, & Boyer-Wright, 2017).
1. Situation 2. The situation made me
feel…
3. What I learnt from
reflecting on the situation

INITIATING AND PLANNING PROJECTS 7
Implementation phase This stage enabled me to
acknowledge the relevance of
different implementation
techniques and their role
towards effective project
delivery
It is vital to determine and
develop metrics to measure the
success of a project to ensure it
meets the user’s needs.
4.2 Lesson 2: Improvement Strategy
Come up with an approach to maintain tracking of the implemented activities by relating the
project to the observation and findings, and commendations at the time of joint cause study.
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
Provide users with
a method to verify
the process
The users have to
be satisfied that
the delivered
products align
with their needs
as requested
It is attainable
since it does entail
costly instruments
to monitor the
project
It is relevant
because it work to
ensure that the
project achieve
the originally
planned
objectives
When the project
is approximately
95% complete.
5.1 Lesson 3

INITIATING AND PLANNING PROJECTS 8
Verification and Validation
The process used to verify and validate the project should be agreed during implementation
phase.
1. Situation 2. The situation made me
feel…
3. What I learnt from
reflecting on the situation
Verification The process demands for
preliminary implementation
evaluation before performing
complete effectiveness
Verification process is utilized
to show the efficiency of the
delivered project
5.2 Lesson 3: 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
Give report about
verification and
validation
Involve metrics
measure for
verification and
validation
Metrics measures
are able to track
the level of
closure evidence
verified and
validated through
control
It provides
stakeholders with
a briefing
regarding the
feedback received
concerning the
project
Before closing the
project

INITIATING AND PLANNING PROJECTS 9
explanation
against parallel
control
justification
actions.
effectiveness
Conclusion
Throughout the project lifecycle, I have learned several lessons and realized new
improvement opportunities. In project management documentation is key since all the learned
documents should be documented. This help project teams to understand all the expected
activities to be undertaken and help to avoid missing out any activity. Hence I managed to
understand a range of project planning practices that are relevant to success of a project.

INITIATING AND PLANNING PROJECTS
10
References
Harris, J. L., Roussel, L. A., Dearman, C., & Thomas, T. (2018). Project planning and
management. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Hazır, Ö. (2015). A review of analytical models, approaches and decision support tools in project
monitoring and control. International Journal of Project Management, 33(4), 808-815.
Hopkinson, M. (2017). The project risk maturity model: Measuring and improving risk
management capability. Routledge.
Kerzner, H. (2018). Project management best practices: Achieving global excellence. John
Wiley & Sons.
Papke-Shields, K. E., & Boyer-Wright, K. M. (2017). Strategic planning characteristics applied
to project management. International Journal of Project Management, 35(2), 169-179.
Stark, J. (2015). Product lifecycle management. In Product lifecycle management (Volume 1)
(pp. 1-29). Springer, Cham.