Abstracting lessons learned from design reviews

The application of lessons learned during construction to future designs is a goal of many construction organizations. This paper presents the current status of design review systems within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and describes a new computer program, the Lessons-Learned Generator, that abstracts frequently used design review comments. Frequently used comments in the Reviewer's Assistant system are evaluated based on usefulness, generality, and content stability. Well-formed comments are then abstracted and included in a new Reviewer's Assistant project. The abstraction process keeps the growth of the database at a reasonable level and allows users to identify and distribute sets of repetitive comments. Difficulties associated with the automated abstraction of lessons learned are discussed. Since the Lessons-Learned Generator identifies lessons learned as part of a reviewer's daily business practice, then makes the lessons-learned immediately accessible within the Reviewer's Assistant system, this approach may be more effective than paper checklists or stand-alone automation approaches for applying lessons learned.