We compile free project management lessons learned templates for project managers, product managers, project coordinators, moderators, project sponsors, and more. Also find tips on how to evaluate your project’s effectiveness.
Included on this page, you'll find a simple project management lessons learned template, a lessons learned log template, a project lessons learned presentation template, and a project lessons learned report example. You’ll also find a list of best practices for using a lessons learned template.
Download Project Management Lessons Learned Template
This customizable, project-specific template serves as an all-purpose project evaluation form. You’ll find sections for project overview details, highlights, challenges, post-project tasks for future consideration, execution analysis, and overall lessons learned. Assign a coordinator to assess your post-project lessons learned, so that your project assessment is comprehensive and accurate. Use the section for signing off upon project-close acceptance, including designated space for project management and project sponsor names, dates, and signatures, to complete the document.
Download Project Lessons Learned Meeting Agenda Template
Keep your post-project analysis moving with this project lessons learned meeting agenda template. You’ll find ample room to outline the meeting-specific process for lessons learned, including project name, facilitator, and attendees, as well as sections for your meeting objectives, team discussion notes, action items for future projects, and wrap-up details. Regardless of your sector, this project lessons learned agenda template is an excellent tool for running efficient, all-inclusive meetings to analyze completed projects.
Download Lessons Learned Log Template
Use this distinctive lessons learned log template to keep tabs on your project’s progress and ensure that it aligns with company objectives. Enter or update info related to your project’s overview details, key potential risks, and action plan to ensure you can course-correct if your project seems at risk of failure.
Download Project Lessons Learned Survey Template
This one-page project lessons learned survey template is ideal for gathering crucial post-project feedback. Use the streamlined form to collect data on lessons learned that you can apply to future projects. Using a rating system with options ranging from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree, team members can say whether they thought the project was well-defined and well-communicated, initial project goals were clear, timeline was realistic, and more. This template also includes space for respondents to write in what went well, frustrating moments, and issues to discuss in the post-project lessons learned meeting.
Download Project Lessons Learned Checklist Template
This comprehensive project lessons learned checklist template provides everything you need for successful post-project analysis. Use the task-specific check boxes to schedule a post-project meeting within one week after the project ends, assign a meeting moderator and separate note taker, send out a survey to collect feedback from project team members, create a meeting agenda, then share it with the attendees. An additional during-the-meeting section provides a checklist for recapping the initial project objectives, comparing expected results with actual outcome, using project team feedback to lead a discussion, and identifying and assigning actionable items to improve future projects.
Download Project Lessons Learned Presentation Template
Designed specifically for introducing a post-project analysis, this project lessons learned presentation template provides an all-inclusive project retrospective plan to assess success and provide guidance for future projects. The presentation template is completely customizable. Use it to evaluate project performance, add goals, set the timeline, compare the budget, and note what went well, key takeaways, action items, and recommendations for future projects. Take the guesswork out of creating a lessons learned presentation from scratch, and leverage the advantages that this template provides.
Download Software Project Lessons Learned Template
Manage your software project’s retrospective with this comprehensive software project lessons learned template. In the project summary section, enter project overview details and criteria for evaluating success. You’ll find ample space for project highlights, challenges, and evaluation. Use the lessons learned sections to gain insight into your software development’s practice and how to improve it.
Download Project Lessons Learned Report Example
Companies crucially need to have a lessons learned plan to guide teams and stakeholders through the entire project evaluation process. The report should include project overview details and project-close acceptance, including official project manager and sponsor sign-off. Use this pre-filled project lessons learned report example as a guide. You’ll find step-by-step project evaluation sections, editable examples of project highlights, and challenges. The sections for post-project tasks, future considerations, planning-phase lessons learned, execution, human factors, and overall notes help you capture critical project-specific lessons learned.
Find more useful lessons learned solutions and tools for project management by reading “Free Post-Mortem Templates Roundup.”
A lessons learned template provides an easy-to-follow design to guide you through the post-project stages of evaluating strengths and weaknesses.
It’s essential to assess your project’s results so that you can identify and correct any project deficiencies. You’ll want to use that knowledge when planning and implementing future projects. When applying lessons learned in this way, you can help ensure that future projects have a greater degree of success.
Use a project management lessons learned template to evaluate how well your team met original goals and criteria for project success, as well as determine whether you completed the project according to the original expectations. Evaluate your project with a lessons learned template to capture the following details:
Regardless of your line of business, a project management lessons learned template can help guide you through the steps of a post-project assessment. You can use those lessons to improve the planning, execution, and all-around success rate of your future projects. Read our guide to project management lessons learned for more tips and details.
For more information on lessons learned reports, read our “Guide to Lessons Learned in Project Management.”
For more useful information about post-project lessons learned assessment for project management, read “The Top 17 Free Project Report Templates For Effective Project Management.”
From simple task management and project planning to complex resource and portfolio management, Smartsheet helps you improve collaboration and increase work velocity -- empowering you to get more done.
The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed.
When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time. Try Smartsheet for free, today.
