In useIn use: The end of the job…
Written down
What went well and what didn't, written where the next bid team will find it. With commercial manager Kofi's numbers on what bad information cost.
Stage 7 · Use it · Stop 3 of 3 · The right way
Lessons into the next bid
The back alley's bill so far: 160 weeks · See the bill
The right way
In useIn use: Six months later…
The next tender
A new tender pack lands in the bid room. Sam, the firm's information manager, opens last job's lessons before anything else.
Sam: Page twelve first. Then the escalator route.
Round again
The information line is priced from real numbers, and Helen, the divisional director, knows what it pays for. At the next client's tired old centre, its own Stan is about to be asked what he needs.
In people's headsThe lessons left with the people, and the next job paid for them again.
Written downLessons with numbers, opened first, and the next job starts wiser.
Now there is: Lessons learned, kept where the next bid will find them.
What's going on here
The last piece of information a job makes is what it learned. Kept where the next bid team will find it, with numbers on what went wrong, it's the cheapest improvement any firm can make. Lost in people's heads, it's paid for again on every job.
In the town See it in the town: where does the line go after the last stop?
The last piece of information the job makes travels back to the start: a new tender pack lands in the bid room, and the lessons from the last job are waiting for it. Kept in the firm's own Records Office, with Kofi's numbers on what bad information cost, they shape the next promise and the warning signs before anyone prices a thing. Left in people's heads, they walk out of the door with the people, and the next job sets off down the back alley the last one took.
Fix it Lessons in heads? Get them on paper.
- Book one hour to write down what went well and what didn't.
- Add the rework cost figures, however rough.
- File the lessons where the next bid team will look first.
A note for the information manager: Make "open the last job's lessons" the first step of every bid, so the record is read, not just written.
Try it on your job
Where would your next bid team find what your last job learned?
ISO 19650 Learning from the last job
| ISO 19650 says | Means | In the town |
|---|---|---|
| Lessons learned | Capturing what went well and badly on a job at close-out, so it can improve future projects | Lessons written down at closing the doors |
| BIM execution plan (BEP) | The bidder's account of how it will deliver the information asked for, which lessons from past jobs should shape | The promise |
| Risk register | The record of what could go wrong, where information risks are listed alongside others | The warning signs |
Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 and its UK National Annex are © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.