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Lessons learned questions survey for the end of a project

Twelve questions for the people who delivered one finished project, ending in a lesson the next team can use.

12questions
About 6 minto answer

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Project Lessons Learned Survey · answer to move through it

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Question 1 of 12 Who is answering

Which of these is closest to your part in this project?

I did the delivery work

I managed or coordinated it

I sponsored it or signed things off

I was a specialist brought in for part of it

I receive or now run what it produced

Question 2 of 12 Who is answering

Which phases of this project were you involved in? Tick every one.

Setting it up

Planning and estimating

Building or delivering

Testing or reviewing

Handover and close

Question 3 of 12 What held

This project delivered what it set out to deliver.

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4

5

Strongly disagreeStrongly agree

Question 4 of 12 What held

The schedule we agreed at the start held.

1

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3

4

5

Strongly disagreeStrongly agree

Question 5 of 12 What held

When something changed, the people it affected heard in time to act on it.

1

2

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4

5

Strongly disagreeStrongly agree

Question 6 of 12 What held

Decisions on this project were made by people who had the information they needed.

1

2

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5

Strongly disagreeStrongly agree

Question 7 of 12 What held

The handover left whoever now owns the result able to run it.

1

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5

Strongly disagreeStrongly agree

Question 8 of 12 When you first saw it

At what point did you first think this project would miss something it had promised?

I never thought that

Before the work started

During setup and planning

Once delivery was under way

During testing or review

Only at the very end

Question 9 of 12 When you first saw it

What was the earliest sign you saw that this project was going off track, and who did you tell?

Question 10 of 12 The lesson itself

Which one of these held this project back the most?

Scope that kept changing

Estimates that were wrong

Waiting on a decision

People or skills we did not have

Something outside the team that we depended on

Nothing stood out

Question 11 of 12 The lesson itself

Write one lesson for whoever runs the next project like this one. Say what happened, what you would do differently, and at which point.

Question 12 of 12 The lesson itself

What worked well enough here that the next project should copy it?

The 12 lessons learned survey questions

A lessons learned survey asks the people who delivered a finished project what held, what slipped, when trouble first showed and what the next team should do differently. These twelve end in one written lesson from each person, and you can create a free questionnaire from them with your project name on top.

Plain text, one question per line, with the answer scale.

Who answered, and which phases they saw

Both required, so every rating after them can be read by role.

Which of these is closest to your part in this project?Choose one, requiredrename the five roles to the ones your team uses.
Which phases of this project were you involved in? Tick every one.Tick all that apply, requiredleave people out of ratings for phases they missed.

What held

Five ratings on one agree scale. Anyone who missed a phase can skip its rating.

This project delivered what it set out to deliver.5-point agree scale, optionalthe headline rating, per role.
The schedule we agreed at the start held.5-point agree scale, optional
When something changed, the people it affected heard in time to act on it.5-point agree scale, optionala gap between roles points at the reporting path.
Decisions on this project were made by people who had the information they needed.5-point agree scale, optional
The handover left whoever now owns the result able to run it.5-point agree scale, optionalweigh the answers from the people who now run it.

When trouble first showed

Both ask what someone saw and when, which is a memory, rather than whether the ending was foreseeable.

At what point did you first think this project would miss something it had promised?Choose one, optionalbeside question 1, it shows whether early spotters could act.
What was the earliest sign you saw that this project was going off track, and who did you tell?Open text, optional

The lesson itself

One forced choice, then the two open boxes the next team will read.

Which one of these held this project back the most?Choose one, optionalcount the picks per cause.
Write one lesson for whoever runs the next project like this one. Say what happened, what you would do differently, and at which point.Open text, optionalan event, a change, and when to make it.
What worked well enough here that the next project should copy it?Open text, optionalso the next team also knows what to keep.

How to send it and read it

Send it to everyone who worked on the project, from the sponsor to the testers, as soon as it closes and before people move on. Put the project name and dates in the survey title, and tell people who will read the raw answers.

Read each rating by the role in question 1. Set question 8 beside question 1 to see whether the first people to spot trouble could act on it, and count the picks on question 10. Write each lesson from question 11 as the event plus the recommendation, the shape NASA uses for its own lessons,[1] then give it an owner and a date.

A workflow that keeps running suits a process improvement survey instead. On a software project, testers answer the UAT questionnaire at sign-off, before this survey goes out.

A finished project timeline passing a single document to an empty timeline starting beside it — One project closes and hands its lesson to the next.

Lessons learned survey FAQ

What questions should a lessons learned survey ask?

Ask each person their role and the phases they saw. Then ask whether the project delivered, whether the schedule held, how changes and decisions reached people, and how the handover went. Close with when trouble first showed, one lesson and what to repeat.

What is the difference between lessons learned and a retrospective?

Cadence and audience. A retrospective survey repeats inside running work, and the same team acts on it next sprint. A lessons learned survey runs once, when a project closes, and its lessons are written for a different team on a later project.

Is a lessons learned survey the same as a post-mortem?

For a finished project, yes: post-mortem, project debrief and post-project review name the same review, and these twelve questions suit all three. When what ended was an unplanned incident, the crisis management questionnaire reviews the response instead.

Michael Hodge, survey methodology · Updated 26 September 2026 · How templates are reviewed

Sources (1)

NASA. NASA Lessons Learned (Lessons Learned Information System). nasa.gov

Capture the lessons before the team moves on

Twelve questions, about six minutes, and a written lesson from everyone who worked on it.

Use this template