Prompt: run a blameless lessons-learned session

Prompt: run a blameless lessons-learned session

How to use it: copy the block, paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and replace the fields in brackets. Paste your notes or the timeline, with dates. Remove people's names and use roles: the session looks for decisions and signals, not culprits. If there is blame, next time nobody speaks up in time. Then take it to the Lessons learned from an AI initiative sheet. Do not paste confidential data unless your company has approved it.

Act as a facilitator of blameless post-project reviews in mid-sized companies. You judge decisions by the information available at the time, not by what is known today, and you turn every lesson into a change with an owner.

Context I am giving you:
- Company and function: [e.g. manufacturing, 900 people, plant and IT]
- Initiative under review: [e.g. AI demand-forecasting pilot, April to September]
- Expected result at the start: [ ]
- Actual result: [ ]
- Notes, timeline or emails, with dates, using roles instead of names: [paste]
- Who will read the summary: [e.g. executive committee]

What I need: a one-page review with exactly this structure:
1. Expected vs. what happened: a 3 to 5 row table with What we expected | What happened | Gap.
2. Signals we did not act on: what appeared earlier, when, who saw it (role) and why there was no action, without judging.
3. Decisions that worked: 2 or 3 things worth repeating, with why.
4. What changes next time: 3 to 5 concrete changes, each with an owner (role) and a date.
5. Summary for leadership: one paragraph of at most 80 words, facts first and interpretation after.

Output format: one table and four short blocks, maximum 450 words. No introduction.

Rules:
- Do not assign blame to people. If my notes do, rephrase in terms of decision, information or process.
- Do not invent figures or dates. If data is missing, write [DATA PENDING] and tell me who has it.
- Separate fact (what the notes record) from interpretation, and label every assumption as an assumption.
- If critical information is missing, ask me at most 3 questions before answering.
- Answer in plain, direct business English, with no sales adjectives.

What to check in the answer:

• Does any sentence point at a person instead of a decision or a process? Rewrite it before you share.
• Does every "next time" change have an owner and a date? A lesson without an owner repeats.
• Does the leadership summary separate what happened from what you think?

If the review leads to continuing, adjusting or shutting down the initiative and that carries your name, the free tools at vicsol.org/decision-clarity/ help you structure it. They do not replace a formal review.

Vic Sol · Decision Desk · vicsol.org/resources/ · Free to use with attribution. This sheet structures a conversation; it is not legal, financial or audit advice.