tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585040184982733654.post3726506315213102375..comments2024-03-20T11:13:46.071+00:00Comments on Knoco stories: Knowledge for Action, Knowledge for InterestNick Miltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02413967879826601863noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585040184982733654.post-73717495725312162612014-12-01T10:26:50.739+00:002014-12-01T10:26:50.739+00:00I agree that every project leader should review th...I agree that every project leader should review the Lessons Management System, as well as current best practice, at the start of every project phase, That way they can pick up any lesson that has not made its way into procedures. However the primary source of guidance are the procedures and guidelines, which become refined over time through incorporation of new lessons.<br /><br />I also agree that the most immediate action in your case can be to fix all workstations, and you can also add the action to review the workstation design in case someone has put the flowmeter in the wrong place on the CAD drawings (this will fix all future workstations), and a third action to verify and report that each workstation has been checked (and to report the number of cases where the meter was in the wrong place). This final action is the governance step.<br /><br />However the goal should be that every lesson should be closed out through an action, and that ideally no lesson should be left as "advice for future project leaders". I know several organisations that get very close to this 100% close-out target (the military being a prime example). Once the lesson has been closed out, and procedures and guidelines updated, then the lesson can be archived, which removes the risk of filling the database with multiple, duplicate, out-of-date and/or contradictory lessons. The extreme example of this was the company that had captured over 20,000 case studies, each "for future project leaders to read". You can guess how many of these actually were read!<br /><br />You can read more about "lessons and actions" in Chapter 7 of my book "The Lessons Learned Handbook"<br />http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Lessons-Learned-Handbook-Approaches/dp/1843345870 Nick Miltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02413967879826601863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585040184982733654.post-822074763918252802014-12-01T09:02:03.517+00:002014-12-01T09:02:03.517+00:00In reality things are not black or white. We shoul...In reality things are not black or white. We should try to keep procedures as short as possible, being too long causes skipping. This is especially true for workstations.<br />The most immediate actionable knowledge is field implementation. E.g. - in a factory it was discovered that overheating occurred in a workstation because of an internal water leak that was not discovered in time because the flow meter was in the input side instead of in the output side. The actionable knowledge is to fix all workstations.<br />Two organizations that I know have an online system of producing lessons learned and best practices. The LLs and best practices are easily accessible online. I do not see a problem in location of best practices even in a relatively large repository; one only needs proper metadata (obtained automatically from the input form), and a reasonable search mechanism.<br />If in every PDR the project leader is required to show what was found (or not) in the LL database this means that the proper culture has been instilled. Success stories of the "jems" found in this database helps too.<br />Eli Mironhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17375315165205750409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585040184982733654.post-36855870602320983482014-11-27T08:48:57.609+00:002014-11-27T08:48:57.609+00:00I would suggest, Eli, that if "the best pract...I would suggest, Eli, that if "the best practice is a new approach in starting a new project" then instead of putting it in a repository and hoping people will read it, the appropriate action is to update the "new project start-up process". <br /><br />If there is no "new project start-up process" then the action is to write one.<br /><br />Keeping lessons in a database and hoping people will read them fails on four counts<br />1. They don't read them, no matter what the process says<br />2. If they do read them, they don't know which items are advisory and which are mandatory<br />3. Over time, you start to get duplicate or even contradictory lessons as practices evolve<br />4. Over more time, the lessons collection becomes too huge to consult.<br />Nick Miltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02413967879826601863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7585040184982733654.post-49110845273725463772014-11-27T08:06:27.991+00:002014-11-27T08:06:27.991+00:00The actioable knowledge is of two types: immediate...The actioable knowledge is of two types: immediate and future. If a new best practice regarding the operation of a workstation, it should be pushed to the managers of all other workstations. If the best practice is a new approach in strting new project - it should be stored in an appropriate repositor for future use. It ibecomes useful only if there is a porcedure that forces project managers to check this repository before starting.Eli Mironhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17375315165205750409noreply@blogger.com