Cross-project learing: Desiging a lessons learned process from a technological, organizational and social perspective

Project-based organizations (PBO) can be seen as a dominant organizational form in the engineering domain. These organizations are structured around projects, and in each project new knowledge is created that can be of value to other projects. These organizations therefore strive for cross-project learning: using the valuable knowledge created in previous projects to the benefit of the current project. A common method to do so is lessons learned, with lessons learned defined as: documented project knowledge gained from both successful and unsuccessful projects that once re-used can impact the organization by improving the cross-project learning, and with that positively impact the performance of the current, other and future projects. PBO’s in the engineering domain are recognizing the strategic importance of cross project learning: lessons learned can result in systematic and cumulative improvement in the process and the deliverables of a project. This in turn can result in improved business processes, financial savings, enhanced revenues, increased competitive advantage and so on. With the increasing awareness of the importance of lessons learned, PBO’s in the engineering domain are reconsidering their lessons learned practice and are looking for ways to improve their lessons learned: a practical problem. From a scientific point of view, a clear guideline or viewpoint on what the design of a lessons learned process should entail is not present. With that in mind the main research question for this research is: What should the design of a lessons learned process entail for project-based organizations in the engineering domain to be able to exploit the knowledge created in projects?SEPAMSystems EngineeringTechnology, Policy and Managemen