A construção do conhecimento por meio de lições aprendidas em gestão de projetos

Abstract

The use of knowledge in project management has become a fundamental differential in organizations in order to promote improvements, facilitate decision making and establish a strategic positioning in a dynamic and competitive environment. Based on this context, the objective of this research is to understand how the lessons learned can be used in the construction of knowledge in project management. In order to do so, an interpretative perspective and the qualitative approach to the selection of data collection and analysis procedures were adopted, which allowed for a deeper understanding of the question involved in this study. The main source of evidence in this research was the application of interviews with professionals who act as project managers and who experience the use of lessons learned in project management. The technique of analysis was the application of coding in a data-driven process perspective, concomitantly using the technique of constant comparison of the research corpus. The results of this study demonstrated that the use of lessons learned is a key factor in building knowledge in project management. The use of lessons learned is best used in projects that use the agile Scrum method when compared to the Walterfall method. It has also been shown that in the projects that make use of the agile Scrum methodology, the lessons learned are used in a circular, systemic and throughout the life of the project. On the other hand, when the Walterfall method is adopted and PMBoK good practice guidelines are not followed, the use of lessons learned is often neglected, since the lessons learned are recorded only at the end of the project. In this last situation it was evidenced that the use of the lessons learned happens in a partial way or is totally forgotten, which leads to the neglect of processes and practices in project management. Another important factor that emerged in this study was the contribution of the learning meetings so that the registration, the sharing and the transfer of knowledge are realized. The main contributions of this study are in the understanding of the importance of lessons learned, mainly eliminating the culture of error aversion, which makes the role of the manager fundamental in breaking this barrier. This professional is also responsible for conducting meetings, keeping the project team motivated so that it can offer its contributions to the evolution of the project. As a way of assisting project managers at the end of this research, a prescription is presented for a better use of the lessons learned in the Walterfall method.