PMcrunch

The learning curve was "invented" many years ago. It refers to the competitive advantage derived from having learned a great deal about a product, service, market, or other competitive factors along the way. The learning curve can be a tremendous source of competitive advantage to organizations that have rode it upwards, especially when compared to those who have not yet accomplished that learning. Let’s take a fresh look at the learning curve and how it affects project management.

One of the great side benefits of a project is that it should get the organization at least partway down the learning curve. The whole idea behind the learning curve is that learning is initially painful, difficult, and costly, but as more and more learning is done, typically by dealing with a problem longer and longer, the costs related to that problem go down. So what does this mean to project management?

One source of benefit that the learning curve has on project management is that any project worth if solved contains value merely in the fact that learning has been accomplished along the way. The fact that team members and stakeholders alike have been struggling with problems along the way as part of the project, the benefit of learning and having gone down the learning curve or an inherent value is vital no matter what the outcome of the project is. This can provide a degree of comfort to the project team in that as cutbacks are made in our currently financially distressed environment, this value is a consideration. One possibility as a result of the learning asset is that if the project itself should be stopped, there is a good chance that the learning achieved can somehow be transferred or repurposed somewhere else in the organization. Thus, preserving jobs in the position of the learning curve.

It is important that project managers recognize the value of the learning curve as it is a key deliverable to stakeholders. Not only is the final product of the project delivered at the end but also all of the learning that has been done during the project should also be transferred officially at that time and officially at closing. Hopefully, a great deal of the knowledge transfer has already been occured and has been shared with the customer throughout the course of the project. In fact, it is a good idea if project managers build in time for the stakeholders to move down the learning curve over the course of the project, so that they are that much better prepared upon project completion for the handoff.

The learning curve originally applied primarily to high-tech manufacturing. The idea was that with increased volume of production that not only would there be economies of skill but economies of learning. However, this concept of learning curve is used in conversation regularly and project managers will benefit widely by incorporating the idea of learning curve into their project plans. It will help the stakeholders to realize the value of learning along the way to gain their participation in an enhanced way throughout the project and will increase the chances of project success. It will also increase the chances of value being realized further from the project in case for some reason the project is cancelled or repurposed.

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John Reiling, PMP
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