Lessons learned: improving performance through organizational learning

Improving organizational effectiveness, efficiency and innovation through organizational learning has been a focus of increasing attention since the mid 1990s. Lessons learned programs, as management systems for capturing and communicating experiential learning, have become central to organizational learning initiatives. Until recently efforts to develop lessons learned programs have been ad hoc and the success of such programs varies from organization to organization. IEEE Working Group 5.5 has been formed to develop an IEEE standard that communicates the key attributes of effective lessons learned programs for nuclear facilities. This paper focuses on the development of that standard. Results of lessons learned literature review and benchmarking by the US Department of Energy (DOE) are summarized along with experiences in refining formalized DOE lessons learned programs over the past decade. The paper also previews the essential elements of the draft IEEE standard.