Project management best practice recommends that lessons be learnt and applied to future projects or later stages of the same project. Do you follow best practice with regards to lessons learnt? Here is what typically happens:

1. A lessons learnt workshop is conducted at the end of the project (if time allows before the project team is re-assigned to another project). This means that many lessons are forgotten and those that were captured are not leveraged into the current project. 

2. A lessons learnt log is completed to tick the box on the project closure form and once filed the lessons are never looked at again. The effort of capturing the lessons are wasted and the value of the lessons lost.

3. New projects are initiated without any consideration of lessons learnt from previous projects. Lessons are NOT learnt, but mistakes are allowed to be repeated and flaws perpetuated. 

Why are we not learning our lessons? At the start of a project, everyone is focused on getting on with the project and supercharged with optimisms. Once a project is underway, the focus is on meeting milestones, managing scope and dealing with in-flight challenges that reflective lessons learnt workshops are postponed to the end of the project. When the end of the project is finally reached, the incentive to do a lessons learnt workshop is low as any lessons will only benefit future projects. This is a vicious cycle.

In summary, few lessons are captured, even fewer lessons are benefiting the current project, and hardly any lessons are considered by future projects. The consequences are that many organizations stagger from one project failure straight into another failure. This reminds me of Albert Einstein's definition of insanity: "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".

With the benefit of a lot of cumulative hindsight, we would recommend that the Project Management Office (PMO) takes the lead in conducting lessons learnt workshops during and at the end of each project and applying these to future projects. Alternatively, an independent expert such as Caleidoscope Associates can help companies to benefit from lessons learnt by capturing, analyze and leveraging these. 

Here is a great quote that made me think about how people approach the different ways people approach project planning. This quote is from Hugh Lawrie:

"There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any."

What is your approach to planning? Do you dive into MS Project or open your favourite project definition template? Or are you more of a avantgard whiteboard brainstorming mind-mapping type?

Whatever your starting point, a some point you need to move from planning to action. For a simple project the plan comes together quickly and is ready for action. What about large or complex projects; do you have to plan the whole project before executing the plant.

Common planning approaches for larger projects are to divide the projects into smaller project phases or sub-projects. This enables you to start the project delivery as early as possible without having to plan out the complete project before starting. No matter how meticulously you plan a project, plans will need to change as reality hits and assumptions are replaced with facts.

IT systems are typically brought in to automate and formalise business processes. Over time, systems are upgraded and new applications are integrated to support new products and organisational changes such as business process outsourcing.

Every time these changes occur, there is an opportunity to re-visit the business processes to check that they are still valid or could be further improved. Most of the technical projects that I encounter ignores the business process improvement opportunity. For those projects that attempts to improve the processes as well as the supporting systems, the process improvement is hampered by functional silos and outdated business policies. Too many business leaders and managers are clinging to the status quo and not looking forwards. Why is that? Usually because the improvement initiative isn't theirs and they have not fully bought into it.

Example: the current policy is to credit check all new customers before providing them with a service. When a new product is launch that carries negligible financial risk the old credit check policy is still applied (and reducing sales). In this example, the business needs to change its policies, processes and IT systems. Any one area is not enough on its own. The alignment from business purpose and strategic goals, through operational policies, to business processes and systems need to be re-assessed whenever a change proposed to any of the above. A change to one area will impact the others as sure as night follows day.

With the right approach, such impact assessments can be done with minimal efforts and time. Done badly, it can consume vast amounts of time and resources, and jeopardise the whole project.

RootMetrics shows a continued lead for EE (previously Orange and T-Mobile), but the gap is narrowing. Interestingly, each time these surveys show Vodafone at the bottom, Vodafone says their "customers are experiencing a significantly improving network". Still leaves Vodafone significantly behind the other operators.

There is a plethora of mobile service providers and resellers (referred to as virtual mobile network operator or MVNO). The MVNO performance should largely follow the performance of the host network, though there can be subtle differences depending on how the MVNO is run. If you want to know which mobile network your MVNO service provider is running on, check out the UK MVNO list on Wikipedia.

Managing projects is a challenging role because it covers a wide range of activities and no two projects are the same. This means project managers have to master a range of skills and at the same time support others in carrying out their jobs. So who looks after the project managers?
If there is a PMO or programme manager, they may be able to provide guidance, mentoring and support. Some project managers are able to share experience with and learn from  fellow project managers. Others join professional bodies such as the PMI or APM for generic support. Most project managers get along as best as they can by using yesterday's tools and techniques. When did you last study a 'lessons learnt' log?
Over the next few months, we will be sharing tools, techniques, insights and resources to help project managers progress with their career (and projects). Part of this initiative includes sharing the knowledge and experience of seasoned project managers across a range of different industries.
If you have project management experience to share, or some have worked with some outstanding project or programme managers, then please contact us now.

At some point or another, a project or programme manager will be faced with the challenge of taking on an in progress project. The project may or may not have been a success to date, but here are a few suggestions from Intelligo PM on what to do to ensure the project is a success under your leadership:

1. Meet sponsor and executive steering group to understand their expectations of the project and where they think the project is at.

2. Discuss with the project team what has gone well to date and what could be done better going forward.

3. Read the most recent project reports and ask the sponsor or senior project stakeholder attending project update meetings to talk you through the updates to understand the importance of the reported items.

4. Ask the sponsor, project team and the programme office (if there is one) to explain what's coming up or has to be achieved in the next 4 weeks.

5. Identify key deliverables and dependencies along with the status and point of contact for each.

6. Prepare to build your own plan as you may find it difficult to manage and track using someone else's plan. Tell the sponsor and project team that you will need time and their input to construct a fresh plan.

7. Lastly, ask for help. Nobody can expect you to pick up a project where the previous person left. Use the opportunity to build rapport with your new colleagues and understand how you can help them in return.

The US-based project management consulting company Cadence published over 100 short podcast covering a wide range of project management topics.

Although they stopped in January 2013, there are 109 podcasts to help project managers (and general managers!) to sharpen their skills whilst commuting or exercising.

Subscribe through iTunes here:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/ask-cadence-project-management/id257164947?mt=2

Well attended inaugural event with strong presenters including #Eurotech and #IBM.

The internet of things (IOT) meet ups in London's Tech City have been oversubscribed within 25 minutes of opening for registrations and they have over 3,000 followers.

For me, the take aways from tonight's presentations were:

1. Integrating legacy solutions could take a while and even longer for replacements.

2. Global forecasts for IOT revenues are still huge, yet IOT business cases are struggling to attract investments.

3. IBM are making it easer for budding developers to prototype ideas using BlueMix on their IOT QuickStart cloud service and Node-RED non-coding programming.

4. A data-centric approach is more likely to lead to longer term solutions and more robust business cases.

5. The long tail of IOT opportunities requires lower entry barriers and open interoperable platforms - no walled gardens!

Thanks to Duncan Purves for initiating and organizing the Thames Valley IOT Meetup.