Capturing and sharing best practices and feedback is essential for any project manager who wants to improve their performance, learn from their mistakes, and foster a culture of continuous improvement. But how do you do it effectively and efficiently? Here are some tips to help you.
Before you start collecting and disseminating best practices and feedback, you need to have a clear idea of what you are looking for and why. What are the goals and objectives of your project? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) and success factors? What are the common challenges and risks? How do you measure and evaluate your results? Having a consistent and transparent set of criteria will help you identify what works and what doesn't, and what you can learn from.
Don't rely on just one source of information or feedback. Seek input from different stakeholders, such as your team members, clients, sponsors, suppliers, and peers. Use different methods, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, and audits. Use different formats, such as quantitative data, qualitative narratives, audio, video, and images. The more diverse and comprehensive your sources are, the more accurate and useful your best practices and feedback will be.
One thing I’ve found helpful is obtaining feedback is to ensure input from all stakeholders. A common mistake is to document lessons learned and solicit feedback from the project team members solely.
Once you have gathered your best practices and feedback, you need to organize and document them in a way that makes them easy to access, understand, and apply. You can use tools such as databases, spreadsheets, wikis, blogs, or online platforms to store and categorize your information. You can use templates, checklists, guidelines, or frameworks to structure and present your information. You can use charts, graphs, diagrams, or infographics to visualize and highlight your information. The key is to make your best practices and feedback clear, concise, and relevant.
I agree. Documenting tour data and findings can be a daunting task to most of the researchers but it helps in saving a lot of time and also in identifying a pattern in the results.
The final step is to communicate and collaborate with your stakeholders to share your best practices and feedback. You can use channels such as newsletters, webinars, podcasts, or social media to disseminate your information. You can use forums, communities, or networks to exchange your information. You can use workshops, seminars, or mentoring to apply your information. The goal is to create a dialogue and a feedback loop that encourages learning, innovation, and improvement.
Best practices and feedback are not static. They evolve and change over time, as your project progresses, as your environment changes, and as you gain more experience and knowledge. Therefore, you need to review and update your best practices and feedback regularly, to ensure that they are still valid, relevant, and effective. You can use metrics, benchmarks, or audits to monitor and evaluate your best practices and feedback. You can use feedback forms, surveys, or polls to solicit and incorporate feedback from your stakeholders. You can use lessons learned, retrospectives, or post-mortems to capture and document your best practices and feedback.