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I used to like "Lessons Learned" records [1]. Perhaps a better way to learn from practising your profession are plus-delta reviews [2]. An even better way to think of plus-delta reviews: I like and I wish chats. Which of these two ways we have for getting better will work for your team?
Lessons-learned records form historical searchable databases of what you would prefer to do in future when you hit some kind of snag. Imagine how much effort you would spend to pause and record that situation when it happens. One of my colleagues has assembled a spreadsheet engineers could use to keep track of such ideas. That version is based on one that a project manager taught him at Vancouver Community College.
For lessons learned, you need to record
- priority
- identification number (increments so that's easy)
- type or category of issue
- discipline of practice
- description of the lesson
- background to the issue
- benefit or impact of the issue
- severity rating of the issue's impact
- how you implement the learned lesson
- who will make sure the lesson changes the work processes
- current status of implementation
Detailed records you can use when operating large organizations. Does a lessons-learned record work for your team? Good question. Let's compare a plus-delta list you use as the closing action in any activity. Folks from Chandos introduced this to me at an integrated project delivery workshop as a way to add continuous learning to any activity.
For plus-delta, you start thinking in terms of "I like" and "I wish". These are Bernard Roth's [3] wording for this activity and it feels much more friendly. In this version, we just split the list into two columns and collect two lists:
-
things we enjoyed (I like)
- things we would like to improve (I wish)
With plus-delta lists, your team will have the chance to give reinforcing feedback immediately after doing the activity and to share ideas for improving the very next version of the activity or event.
Perhaps we need both. Perhaps plus-delta reviews give teams a way to learn together and get better directly. Perhaps lessons-learned give teams a way to share learning with a broader bureaucracy and improve a larger system.
[2]:Lean Construction Institute on Plus-Delta
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To do a good job examining the why for an organization would involve getting members of the organization into small groups to work through ideas. Then bring together all those ideas to get to the deep why.
For now, let's reflect on what I have observed in [VECTOR][1].
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As a team leader, who is responsible for a mistake on your team? Some notes on team accountability and extreme ownership from the Episode 170 of the Jocko Podcast.
Extreme ownership means that you recognize and accept your share of responsibility for a mistake from anyone on your team.
- Why did the team member make a mistake?
- Why didn't the team member have back up?
- Why didn't the rest of the members of the team...?
- Why didn't I (the leader) actually go through with this team member and make sure the team member knows how to do that procedure properly?
The team member is part of my team. We are responsible for this taking place.
If my co-worker fails, I ask myself: What mistake did I make that my co-worker dropped the ball? Did I not show it to him? Did I not ask him if he knew how to do it? Did I not ask him if he needed some help? Did I not confirm that he knew the procedures correctly? All of these things are my fault.
When you get a good team you have everyone taking ownership of the problems and that is the way it's supposed to be.
Each person on a team always has some role to fill in solving a problem.
Unfortunately, every engineering professional has been on a team which misses this point. We need to take "pre-emptive ownership" together in our teams to reduce our chances of something going wrong. And, when anything still goes wrong, taking ownership after the mistake will conquer trouble.
What kind of person feels good about letting one member of your team take ownership alone?
Listen to the discussion:
- the specific 15 minute segment on Fault
- the whole 2 hour question and answer podcast (#170) - It's about How to Be The Person Who Executes. Standing Up VS Avoiding Conflict. Extreme Ownership When it’s Not Your Fault. How to Lead as a Subordinate.
Willink, Jocko. Babin, Leif. Extreme Ownership. St. Martin's Press. New York. 2015.
Willink, Jocko. Discipline Equals Freedom Field Manual. St. Martin's Press. New York. 2017.
Willink, Jocko. Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win. St. Martin's Press. New York. 2018.
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VANSLAM 2019 approaches. VECTOR is finishing final preparations.
For the last 16 months, I have been helping to offer learning sessions for members to practice voice protocol, packet messaging skills and equipment setup. For the last six weeks, I have been helping to run drills for members to rehearse how we would convey messages for the city.
Our equipment is ready. Let's see if we're ready.
We pulled together tabletop voice practice exercises all over the city. We held hands-on packet radio sessions with laptops and radios. We reminded members of the details at our sites. We came together to learn everything in one day several times. We hosted weekend sessions using our radios at community centres. We drilled Saturdays using our radios at DSA's and community centres to send dozens of messages.
[2]:VECTOR Radio
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After lean manufacturing and lean construction, we now have lean data. Keeping your data from becoming a risk is how you keep it lean.
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