The German philosopher Friedrich Hegel coined an adage that is now our challenge to invalidate. He touted, "The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history." It seems we persistently experience the same, almost universal issues virtually every turnaround season, suggesting widespread "opportunities" surrounding the lessons-learned process. Fortunately, this is not the disappointing experience of every turnaround team. With a few key strategies, this does not have to be the experience of any turnaround team.
The lessons-learned process must be incorporated in the official turnaround methodology manual, vigorously enforced and should include at least three types of meetings:
- The "issues capture" meeting. Although this meeting should be hosted within two weeks following turnaround completion, the issues should be captured throughout the turnaround cycle, beginning long before the commencement of mechanical work. Contractors, employees and execution coordinators should be required to document issues daily and submit issues to the event manager weekly. Teams that don't capture issues until the meeting discover memories have faded and notes have been lost or discarded. The organizer of this meeting should invite key representatives for all resources and stakeholders who contributed to or benefited from the turnaround. These meetings should be conducted by a trained facilitator to keep them on point, on schedule and relatively positive. Issues lacking clarity or completeness of thought should be followed up on quickly. A persistent challenge is making sure the team is giving adequate attention to not just the obvious or usual topics but all the important topics, e.g., did we procure the most effective project controls personnel? Did we engage experienced logistics planners? Did our execution coordinators really save time and money? Did we transport contractors in and out of the facility efficiently? Did we secure the most effective safety attendants? The issues captured should be published widely for corrections, comments and feedback from the team. Significant issues should be assigned to the appropriate designated personnel for mitigation.
- The "issues mitigation" meeting. Within a month after the issues capture meeting, the turnaround team should meet to learn of the mitigations to correct issues. This is not only an important accountability piece; it is also the payoff for those who offered input at the issues capture meeting. Participants who feel they were not heard will be less likely to give full participation in future meetings. The mitigations and their statuses should be documented and reported on at regular intervals. A designated person should be assigned to steward the mitigation process to completion and to ensure lessons learned are integrated into the next turnaround event. A site lessons-learned library should be created and populated by topic with lessons learned from every turnaround possible. Without a library, lessons learned may be passed along only to the next turnaround and then forgotten again. As George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Sometimes issues are eliminated for only one or two turnarounds and then revived. Lessons learned are like gold; throwing away old lessons learned is like throwing away old gold.
- The "issues review" meeting. This meeting should review issues captured, the mitigation plans and the statuses of the mitigations. Every turnaround should provide an increased advantage for the next. The issues review meeting is, in reality, a series of meetings. Not all lessons learned can be reviewed a few months in advance of the turnaround. The earlier milestones require earlier review meetings. Review meetings tend to be less impactful when the organizer attempts to cover too much ground in a single meeting. It can make much of the information irrelevant to many participants and harder to remember for all participants. Don't forget: Lessons learned are valuable input into schedule and cost risk assessments as well.
For more information, contact Mike Bischoff at (281) 461-9340, email sales@onpoint-us or visit www.Onpoint-us.com.