Book Image

After Action Review: Continuous Improvement Made Easy

By : Artie Mahal
Book Image

After Action Review: Continuous Improvement Made Easy

By: Artie Mahal

Overview of this book

Even if we're not consciously aware of it, we're constantly seeking improvement. This continual quest for improvement begins when you start differentiating between "what was" and "what could be." Through this book, you’ll learn how to apply both informal and formal continuous improvement approaches to reflect upon and analyze your individual work or the work of your team. The book begins by covering the basic facilitation skills that you'll need to conduct an AAR. These skills include active listening, questioning, information gathering and analysis, managing group dynamics, and more. You'll dive deep into the AAR technique and explore all its aspects in detail including its value proposition and frameworks. As you progress through the book, you'll explore the informal and formal approaches to AAR and understand the situations where each can be used. By the end of the book, you’ll be able to apply this technique and its fundamentals to assess the improve the outcome of your project you undertake or a life event.
Table of Contents (8 chapters)

CHAPTER 2
After Action Review

After Action Review (AAR) is a technique of analyzing the results of any Activity by having the participant group members reflect on and acknowledge as to what was planned, what actually happened, and what could be improved next time around. This is a tool for continuous improvement (CI). An AAR can be conducted during the activity and definitely at the conclusion.

An Activity may be defined as the state or quality of being active; a specific deed, action, function or sphere of action.1 For almost any organization, activities include meetings, work sessions, training classes and workshops, business initiatives, projects and programs, and development of products and services. In non-profit organizations, for example, these could be fundraising activities. Within government, it could include policy development and implementation. In the case of Armed Forces, it could be battle strategies, preparations, and tactical actions. In the context of personal...