I have participated in many different projects over the years. Some projects were small in scope and short term. Other projects were major implementations. There is a common element to many of these projects. Usually toward the end of the project or right after the project is finished, there is a meeting with everyone to talk about “lessons learned.” The stated intent of the meeting is to have an open discussion about the project itself. People want to know what went wrong, what went well, what could have gone better. Someone may even take notes. 

While I have attended many of these “lessons learned” meetings at the ends of projects, I have never attended one at the start of a project. Wouldn’t it make sense to start a project with all the learned lessons from the last project? It is frustrating to see many of the same mistakes happen on project after project even though everyone supposedly learned their lessons.

What is the point of having lessons learned if no one learns the lessons? Are there any project managers who can comment on how they have been able to carry forward the experience learned from each previous project to make the next one that much better?