Private Research Groups SM
Pushing Lessons Learned into the Organization
A Private Research Group consortium project conducted by GGI.
Overview
Every company that thrives on introduction of new product as a major part of their business engine has many new product projects underway at any given time. In some cases they will number in the hundreds. Even the least advanced companies do some kind of post mortem activity to identify what went well and what presented difficulty. Almost infinite knowledge is gathered along the project path, if only imbedded in the mind of the person who mad a particular intellectual discovery.
Every new product project makes a process discovery that may well enhance speed to market, quality, profitability or project cost. The focus of this research is to determine the most effective way(s) to deploy this information to benefit the company. Carla O'Dell in her 1998 If Only We Knew What We Know, published by Free Press said, "Knowledge in repose is only potential. Knowledge in action brings organizations alive." This research will focus on finding the ways to best realize the entitled gain for that knowledge.
Other work has addressed how to best capture lessons learned by the project team without increasing their overhead burden,how to store and archive the data and such related measures. The challenges of this research are to address:
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How to decide what lessons to imbed in the knowledge base for implementation,
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How to actively present these lessons, through "push" technology, to practitioners or project teams as they go about their work, making them aware of what they might do to improve their outcome and,
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How to measure the effectiveness of lessons learned implementation.
Study Approach
Common Participation
- Research partners conduct virtual meetings for introductory session,
- GGI conducts literature search on the topic and shares with partners,
- Research partners meet to develop questions in detail and focused target for research,
- Research partners provide their input;
- Draft report developed by GGI for review by research partners and,
- Final report delivered to research partners and presented in face-to-face group session (preferably hosted by partner company).
Optional Participation
- If "Best Practice" company(s) emerge from the research, site visits may be arranged at an additional cost.
- Subset of partners that have a special common interest may pursue the topic further by joint meetings and further focused research at an additional cost.
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