Read and reflect on the assigned readings/videos for the week. Respond to both the below:
- Based on the different concepts covered, choose one topic area to explore further. Conduct online research related to that topic across at least two articles. Post a summary (2-3 paragraphs) of these learnings to further educate your peers on the subject.
- Provide a graduate-level response to one of the following questions:
- Offer 1-2 examples as to why capturing lessons learned throughout the project is beneficial versus waiting until the end of the project.
- Besides what was presented in the course, what is another model for dealing with conflicts in a team?
- From researching the internet, what are some common pitfalls related to organizations trying to implement knowledge management programs within their teams?
Your post must be substantive and demonstrate insight gained from the course material. Postings must be in the student's own words - do not provide quotes nor use ChatGPT or other tools to write on your behalf!
Your initial post should be at least 450+ words and in APA format (including Times New Roman with font size 12 and double spaced). Post the actual body of your paper in the discussion thread then attach a Word version of the paper for APA/Plagiarism review.
Module Overview:
As the project continues, we may be confronted with conflict, which occurs within the project team or with different project resources. The Project Manager needs to be equipped with different tools to overcome these conflicts and get the team back into a performing state. In addition, as the project progresses through the execution phase, different lessons will be gained as far as what is going well, what we should do more or less of, etc. We capture these knowledge points via lessons learned in the project so that way we can integrate these lessons further in the existing project but also for the benefit of future projects.
Module Objectives:
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- Students will be able to facilitate lessons learned meetings throughout and at the end of the project.
Learning Materials:
Knowledge Management
Knowledge management relates to the process of capturing, archiving, distributing, and effectively using or having knowledge available within a project/organization. There are numerous strategies out there related to knowledge management and how employee knowledge can help foster improved collaboration, efficiency, and innovation. The key is making sure the right knowledge is accessible to the right resources as needed. In a project, this correlates to making sure our communications are done at a proper frequency and available for stakeholders along with other documentation applicable to the project is being completed and available for review.
Take a moment to review these short videos related to knowledge management and understand the differences related to tactic, implicit, and explicit knowledge:
Conflict Management
Conflict is natural during a project. It is often said that conflict is often evidence of progress. As a project team forms, they may have some challenges with cohesion and productivity as they gain further understanding about their roles, expectations, etc. within the project.
Take a moment to review this video related to managing conflict.
Lessons Learned
One way of capturing knowledge is via Lessons Learned. Through the life of the project, we should be gaining numerous lessons learned about what has been going well or what we should improve on if we were to do a similar project again. It is important that the project team captures these lessons learned throughout the project. Then at the end of the project, during the close steps, a lessons learned workshop is typically held to summarize with the team what lessons were gained. Note these workshops shouldn't be to point fingers at issues that came up; but instead as a platform to document how we can learn from the project so that way we can use the knowledge to our benefit on future projects. Ideally, prior to starting new projects, a Project Manager should look through lessons learned archives from prior projects to capture points that should be brought forward for the new project.
References
Project Management Institute. (2021). A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK guide) (7th ed.). Project Management Institute.