Why Do Lessons Learned Often Fail?

Abstract

Organisations know they should do lessons learned. Standards like ISO9001 and ISO30401 say they should. Many try; few succeed. Traditionally, the first answer to the question is “lessons were observed, but not learned,” which reflects meaningful action was not taken as a result of the reported lesson. A lesson may have been identified, but nothing changed. As a result, learning did not happen. So why is this so? It is important to identify the ways in which the process towards effective lesson learning is becoming lost within the stages and how knowledge practitioners and those responsible for lessons learned can best help. This chapter will attempt to drill down on this answer, concentrating on the processes deployed and the real-world issues around the lesson-learning process.