# Lessons Learned

> Capture lessons learned from projects, incidents, or initiatives in a way that drives future improvement. Use after project completion, major milestones, or significant events when organizational learning should be preserved.

- Skill: `itsual/lessons-learned` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add itsual/lessons-learned`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/itsual/lessons-learned/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: itsual (https://skillmd.com/u/itsual)
- Updated: 2026-09-21
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/itsual/lessons-learned

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# Lessons Learned

## Overview

Lessons learned documents turn experience into organizational memory. They focus on what to repeat, what to change, and what to avoid.

## When to Use

- Project closeouts
- Post-incident or post-mortem follow-up (document form)
- Major initiative retrospectives
- Program or portfolio reviews

## Recommended Structure

1. Context (project/initiative, timeframe, goals)
2. What went well
3. What did not go well
4. Root causes or contributing factors
5. Recommendations (specific and actionable)
6. Owners and follow-up for systemic changes
7. Appendix (data, timeline, references)

## Principles

- Be honest and specific — generic lessons are useless
- Focus on systems and processes, not personal blame
- Turn observations into recommendations with owners
- Share widely enough that others can benefit
- Revisit whether previous lessons were actually applied

## Verification

- [ ] Lessons are specific enough to act on
- [ ] Recommendations have clear owners or next steps
- [ ] Both successes and failures are covered