PRINCE2 Lessons Report

What is this?

The Lessons Report is used to pass on any lessons that can be usefully applied to other projects.

The purpose of the report is to provoke action so that the positive lessons become embedded in the organization’s way of working, and that the organization is able to avoid any negative lessons on future projects.

Why it’s useful?

This is a PREMIUM template as defined by the PRINCE2 Project Management methodology.

Whilst you can find this template in Appendix A of an official PRINCE2 manual, of course you may not have purchased a manual, or you may just prefer to have an electronic version of it.

How to use it?

This is a ‘vanilla’ template that accompanies the PRINCE2 methodology and is used as the basis for PRINCE2 exams.

Whilst you can use it in its vanilla format we recommend that you think about tailoring it (as suggested by the method itself) bearing in mind the following:

• Industry / organizational specific terminology
• Size / complexity of project
• If the project is part of a programme
• Any existing templates in your organization

A Lessons Report can be created at any time in a project and should not necessarily wait until the end. Typically it should be included as part of the End Stage Report and End Project Report. It may be appropriate (and necessary) for there to be several Lessons Reports specific to the particular organization (e.g. user, supplier, corporate or programme).

The data in the report should be used by the corporate group that is responsible for the quality management system, in order to refine, change and improve the standards. Statistics on how much effort was needed for products can help improve future estimating.