After Action Review (AAR) Process
Monday, November 25, 2013
A typical project review is done "post
mortem" – after the fact, and well past any opportunity to change
the outcome.
You finish a project, and then you study it to
determine what happened.
From there, you decide which processes to
keep and what you'll do differently next time.
That may help the next project – but it's too late for the project
you've just finished: you may have use too much time and too many resources in the project being reviewed, and you could have avoided some of this if you'd done a review part of the way through.
Wouldn't it be better to evaluate along the way – so that you can
capture lessons learned after each milestone, and improve
performance immediately?
Organizations of all types, across all industries, could benefit
from an ongoing review process. The After Action Review (AAR) process was
developed by the military as a way for everyone to learn quickly
from soldiers' experiences in the field.
With this system,
critical lessons and knowledge are transferred immediately to get
the most benefit. The "field unit" has an opportunity to talk
about what happened, and other teams can then use this
experience right away. In this way, the performance of the whole
organization improves in a timely manner.
Benefits of an AAR
AARs provide an opportunity to assess what happened and why. They
are learning-focused discussions that are designed to help the
team and the organization's leaders discover what to do
differently. For example, when conducting organization-wide
training, you might complete an AAR after the first training
session to analyze what to do better in the next session. Or, if
you're changing your manufacturing process, you could do an AAR
after completing the first 100 units, instead of finishing the
entire run.
Depending on the nature and size of a
project, you may actually do the AAR after completion. The
common factor is applying the AAR process to all recurring,
or repeating, events and activities, as well as those that
pose a challenge. The AAR approach supports a continuous
learning culture – and the desire to find and use best
practices and innovative approaches.
It's important to note that AARs aren't limited just to large or
formal projects. You can use them after staff meetings or regular
operational functions, like month-end accounting. Also, when a
safety incident occurs, an AAR can reveal important lessons.
An added benefit of the After Action Review process is improved
communication and feedback within teams themselves. Because the
focus is on learning instead of blaming, the process itself leads
to improved understanding of team performance, and helps people
think about how best to work together to produce better results.
The AAR process is related to the Deming Cycle, or Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) , and it's a great addition to any continuous improvement initiative. The Deming Cycle is a broader approach to solving problems and managing change. AAR is a useful tool that works with PDCA,
but they're not substitutes for one another.
Conducting an After Action Review
An AAR is a structured meeting that does the following:
Focuses on why things happened.
Compares intended results with what was actually accomplished.
Encourages participation.
Emphasizes trust and the value of feedback.
For the AAR process to be successful, the team needs to discover
for itself the lessons provided by the experience. The more open
and honest the discussion, the better. Here are some of the key
elements of an effective AAR:
Discuss the purpose and rules – The AAR does not seek to criticize negatively, or find fault. The emphasis should be on
learning, so make this clear right from the start to achieve
maximum involvement, openness, and honesty.
Encourage active participation – When setting the rules, talk
about trust. Emphasize that it's OK to disagree and that blame
isn't part of the discussion. Personal attacks must be stopped
immediately. Setting the right tone for an AAR is extremely
important.
Use a facilitator – A neutral party helps focus the discussion.
This person asks questions and can often lead the discussion in
such a way that it remains nonjudgmental.
Talk about TEAM performance – The AAR is not about individual
performance. Look at how the team performed, and don't assign
blame.
Conduct the AAR as soon as possible – For feedback to be
effective, it should be timely. By doing an AAR quickly, you'll
get a more accurate description of what happened. It also helps
ensure that all (or most) of the team can participate.
Focus the discussion with skillful questioning – If you ask, "How do you think that went?" this can be too broad a topic to discuss. Instead, direct
participants to think about specific issues or areas: "How well did you cooperate?" "How could communication have been better?" "What planning activities were most effective?"
Discussion questions typically center around three themes:
What was supposed to happen? What did happen? Why was there a difference?
What worked? What didn't work? Why?
What would you do differently next time?
Start by getting participants to agree
on what was supposed to happen. If the original objectives
were unclear, then it's unlikely that the project or
activity was very successful. Once you have agreement, you
can discuss actual versus intended results. You may need to
return to the objectives as you move on to what worked and
what you would do differently.
Remember to ask open questions, so that participants don't think
that there's a "right" or "wrong" answer:
What would you have preferred to happen?
What would you do differently next time?
How could the situation have been prevented?
In your opinion, what is the ideal procedure?
Sometimes it's helpful to have participants each write down their ideas, and then ask everyone to share. This helps you avoid groupthink , and it allows quieter individuals to contribute.
Write the key discussion questions on a whiteboard or flipchart.
This helps participants focus on the main purpose of the meeting.
Let the team talk – This is an exercise in good communication,
not just feedback and continuous learning. The better the team
members communicate with one another and work out differences, the
stronger they'll be in the future – as both individuals and team
players.
Record the recommendations – Write down the specific
recommendations made by the team. Then forward this information to
other team leaders and stakeholders. This is how AARs contribute
to organization-wide learning and improvement.
Provide follow-up and training – If no one follows up on the
recommendations, then time spent on the process is wasted. Create a system to
ensure that the ideas gathered in the AAR are incorporated into
operations and training activities.
See our articles on running effective meetings and managing conflict in meetings to learn how to do these things effectively.
Key Points
After Action Reviews provide an effective approach for capturing lessons
learned from activities and projects.
Rather than waiting until the end of a long project to evaluate
how well the team did, AARs incorporate continuous learning right
from the start. They're also great for ensuring that the
lessons learned from one project or team are shared with the rest
of the organization, with a view to improving overall performance.
Continuous improvement helps us handle the changes that are
happening around us. AARs help us keep open a steady dialogue
about learning and improvement. They also allow organizations to
learn and adapt, so that they can keep up with – and stay ahead of –
change.
Tags:
Project Management, Skills
mortem" – after the fact, and well past any opportunity to change
the outcome.
You finish a project, and then you study it to
determine what happened.
From there, you decide which processes to
keep and what you'll do differently next time.
That may help the next project – but it's too late for the project
you've just finished: you may have use too much time and too many resources in the project being reviewed, and you could have avoided some of this if you'd done a review part of the way through.
Wouldn't it be better to evaluate along the way – so that you can
capture lessons learned after each milestone, and improve
performance immediately?
Organizations of all types, across all industries, could benefit
from an ongoing review process. The After Action Review (AAR) process was
developed by the military as a way for everyone to learn quickly
from soldiers' experiences in the field.
With this system,
critical lessons and knowledge are transferred immediately to get
the most benefit. The "field unit" has an opportunity to talk
about what happened, and other teams can then use this
experience right away. In this way, the performance of the whole
organization improves in a timely manner.
Benefits of an AAR
AARs provide an opportunity to assess what happened and why. They
are learning-focused discussions that are designed to help the
team and the organization's leaders discover what to do
differently. For example, when conducting organization-wide
training, you might complete an AAR after the first training
session to analyze what to do better in the next session. Or, if
you're changing your manufacturing process, you could do an AAR
after completing the first 100 units, instead of finishing the
entire run.
Depending on the nature and size of a
project, you may actually do the AAR after completion. The
common factor is applying the AAR process to all recurring,
or repeating, events and activities, as well as those that
pose a challenge. The AAR approach supports a continuous
learning culture – and the desire to find and use best
practices and innovative approaches.
It's important to note that AARs aren't limited just to large or
formal projects. You can use them after staff meetings or regular
operational functions, like month-end accounting. Also, when a
safety incident occurs, an AAR can reveal important lessons.
An added benefit of the After Action Review process is improved
communication and feedback within teams themselves. Because the
focus is on learning instead of blaming, the process itself leads
to improved understanding of team performance, and helps people
think about how best to work together to produce better results.
The AAR process is related to the Deming Cycle, or Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) , and it's a great addition to any continuous improvement initiative. The Deming Cycle is a broader approach to solving problems and managing change. AAR is a useful tool that works with PDCA,
but they're not substitutes for one another.
Conducting an After Action Review
An AAR is a structured meeting that does the following:
Focuses on why things happened.
Compares intended results with what was actually accomplished.
Encourages participation.
Emphasizes trust and the value of feedback.
For the AAR process to be successful, the team needs to discover
for itself the lessons provided by the experience. The more open
and honest the discussion, the better. Here are some of the key
elements of an effective AAR:
Discuss the purpose and rules – The AAR does not seek to criticize negatively, or find fault. The emphasis should be on
learning, so make this clear right from the start to achieve
maximum involvement, openness, and honesty.
Encourage active participation – When setting the rules, talk
about trust. Emphasize that it's OK to disagree and that blame
isn't part of the discussion. Personal attacks must be stopped
immediately. Setting the right tone for an AAR is extremely
important.
Use a facilitator – A neutral party helps focus the discussion.
This person asks questions and can often lead the discussion in
such a way that it remains nonjudgmental.
Talk about TEAM performance – The AAR is not about individual
performance. Look at how the team performed, and don't assign
blame.
Conduct the AAR as soon as possible – For feedback to be
effective, it should be timely. By doing an AAR quickly, you'll
get a more accurate description of what happened. It also helps
ensure that all (or most) of the team can participate.
Focus the discussion with skillful questioning – If you ask, "How do you think that went?" this can be too broad a topic to discuss. Instead, direct
participants to think about specific issues or areas: "How well did you cooperate?" "How could communication have been better?" "What planning activities were most effective?"
Discussion questions typically center around three themes:
What was supposed to happen? What did happen? Why was there a difference?
What worked? What didn't work? Why?
What would you do differently next time?
Start by getting participants to agree
on what was supposed to happen. If the original objectives
were unclear, then it's unlikely that the project or
activity was very successful. Once you have agreement, you
can discuss actual versus intended results. You may need to
return to the objectives as you move on to what worked and
what you would do differently.
Remember to ask open questions, so that participants don't think
that there's a "right" or "wrong" answer:
What would you have preferred to happen?
What would you do differently next time?
How could the situation have been prevented?
In your opinion, what is the ideal procedure?
Sometimes it's helpful to have participants each write down their ideas, and then ask everyone to share. This helps you avoid groupthink , and it allows quieter individuals to contribute.
Write the key discussion questions on a whiteboard or flipchart.
This helps participants focus on the main purpose of the meeting.
Let the team talk – This is an exercise in good communication,
not just feedback and continuous learning. The better the team
members communicate with one another and work out differences, the
stronger they'll be in the future – as both individuals and team
players.
Record the recommendations – Write down the specific
recommendations made by the team. Then forward this information to
other team leaders and stakeholders. This is how AARs contribute
to organization-wide learning and improvement.
Provide follow-up and training – If no one follows up on the
recommendations, then time spent on the process is wasted. Create a system to
ensure that the ideas gathered in the AAR are incorporated into
operations and training activities.
See our articles on running effective meetings and managing conflict in meetings to learn how to do these things effectively.
Key Points
After Action Reviews provide an effective approach for capturing lessons
learned from activities and projects.
Rather than waiting until the end of a long project to evaluate
how well the team did, AARs incorporate continuous learning right
from the start. They're also great for ensuring that the
lessons learned from one project or team are shared with the rest
of the organization, with a view to improving overall performance.
Continuous improvement helps us handle the changes that are
happening around us. AARs help us keep open a steady dialogue
about learning and improvement. They also allow organizations to
learn and adapt, so that they can keep up with – and stay ahead of –
change.
