Why:
To increase learning from your projects

Objective:
Capturing and applying what you are learning in a project.

How:
A learning debrief can help you tune your performance part way through a project or transfer learnings from one project to the next. Gather your project team for a meeting and set a few basic ground rules. Here are two that are especially important. Add others as you see fit.

(1) No blame or praise.
This is the most important ground rule. The purpose of this meeting is learning, not allocating fault or credit.

(2) All perspectives are valued.
The differences in what each team member experienced can contribute to the whole team’s learning. Don’t assume that everyone had the same experience.

“What?”
Start by identifying where you are in the project if it is on-going. Remind the team of the project’s original purpose and
objectives. If those have changed, review the changes. Compare what has actually been done to the purpose and objectives.
If you have stakeholder feedback on the project, review that feedback. The overall goal of this step is to answer the question,
“What happened here?” including both successful and unsuccessful elements. Explore not only what happened, but what
caused what happened. For both successful and unsuccessful elements, lead the team in a discussion of the factors that
contributed to the outcome. Although you will be tempted to ask “why,” this isn’t generally the most useful question.
It triggers a defensive reaction for many people. Instead ask, “What contributed to that?” or “How was that achieved?”
These questions will elicit a better discussion. During the “what” step, it’s best to avoid discussions of how you will change
things in the future. Get all the information on the table about what happened and wait till the “So what” step to explore changes.

“So what?”
In this step, you want to explore the implications of what you have learned so far. Take a look at all of the ideas discussed
in “what.” Ask team members to take a step back from the project, perhaps seeing it as your boss or an external ]stakeholder
might see it. Look for the patterns in what works and what doesn’t. Discuss your own team as the driver of those patterns.
What can you learn from this information?

“Now what?”
Make three lists. (A flip chart page for each is helpful.) The lists are headed “start,” “stop,” and “continue.” Brainstorm with your team about things you should start doing that you aren’t currently doing, things you should stop doing, and things that you are already doing and want to continue to do. Once you’ve made the lists, realistically assess which items you can execute on. Make a group decision about your priorities and commit to the actions necessary.

To learn more:
For an excellent article on experiential learning, read Experiential Learning Cycles.