3.7 Holding a Lessons Learned Review At the conclusion of each proposal—win or lose—you should assess your work. Determine what helped you during the proposal planning and writing phases by holding a Lessons Learned (White Hat) review. Evaluate yourself with questions like the following:
• What obstacles did you face? • How did you overcome them?
• What can you do differently to improve the efficiency or quality of your proposal? While other reviews focus on improving your chances of creating a winning proposal for a specific opportunity, the Lessons Learned review focuses on improving future chances of winning. The first part of the review focuses on your internal successes, problems, and improvements. Conduct it while memories are fresh. The second part looks at the pursuit from the customer’s perspective. Incorporate customer feedback about why you won or lost, if available. Figure 26 shows desired inputs and outputs of a Lessons Learned review.
Inputs
Outputs
Internal Successes
Documentation of Successes
Internal Problems and Workarounds
Lessons Learned Review
Documentation of Problem Resolutions Recommendations for Process Improvements
Customer’s Formal Debriefing
Customer’s Informal Comments
Figure 26. Lessons Learned Inputs and Outputs. Internal inputs on both successes and problems and their workarounds come frommembers of the proposal team after their efforts are complete. External feedback, both formal and informal, comes from customers. Document what worked well and what did not. Recommend steps and activities to continue and methods or approaches to change.
Lessons Learned Tools
See Color Team Reviews in the Shipley Proposal Guide .
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