The AAR is a simple process used by a team to capture the lessons learned from past successes and failures with the goal of improving future performance. It is an opportunity for a team to reflect on a project, activity, event or task so that the next time, they can do better.

AAR does not have to be performed at the end of a project or activity. Rather, it can be performed after each identifiable event within a project or major activity, thus becoming a live learning process for staff.

The AAR is a professional discussion that includes the participants and focuses directly on the tasks and goals. It is not a critique. It does not judge success or failure.

• AAR attempts to discover why things happened.
• Are conducted during or immediately after each event.
• Involve all participants in the discussion.
• Use open-ended questions
• It focuses directly on the tasks and goals that were to be accomplished.
• It encourages employees to surface important lessons in the discussion.
• More employees participate so that more of the project or activity can be recalled and more lessons can be learned and shared.
• Link performance to subsequent training

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