When we hear or use the expression, "Looking back, knowing what we know today, we'd surely have done things differently" -- that's usually a sign that there were unexpected events or circumstances that came back to bite, haunt, or baffle the participants of a particular project or undertaking.Even if the circumstances were difficult at the time, the good news is that astute observers can later extract valuable gems of wisdom from the experience, which they can then apply to their greatest advantage going forward.20:20 Hindsight = "Lessons Learned""Lessons learned" are the perfect 20:20 hindsight that we frequently have after completing a project or endeavor. This hindsight is worth its weight in gold if we mine its special value, but it's absolutely worthless if we don't make use of what it has to offer.When identifying lessons learned, our goal should be to identify what went well, what didn't go well, and why. At this point, you might be thinking, "What kind of reason can I give to my team that we should be doing this? It sounds like a bunch of bureaucratic overhead and more things to do. When the project's over, we're anxious to move on!"The value lies in paving the way for future projects, so they will experience fewer headaches and setbacks. You don't, however, need to wait until the entire project finishes. You could capture 20:20 hindsight incrementally throughout the project, or very soon after it's over, while the issues are still fresh.What Lessons Should You Capture?For any