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Captain's Log, Stardate 4651

The head of the Disciplinary Board seemed angry. "Captain Picard, I suppose you know why we've called this Court of Inquiry. Your last mission was a complete screw-up. This board is reviewing the record to determine the cause of the failure and recommend appropriate corrective action."

"Yes, I am aware of that."

"Captain, when did you first fire at the Klingon cruiser?"

"I don't really know."

"Aren't all attacks on enemy vessels required to be recorded in the Captain's Log?"

"Actually, we came up with a management innovation on the latest mission. We decided that record-keeping was too burdensome, so we abolished the Captain's Log. It really saved us a lot of work."

"Captain, since time immemorial, naval ships have maintained their logbooks as the trusted chronological record of key operational events. Do you know why this is done?"

"Well, I suppose they wanted to make the Captain responsible for maintaining a single official record of events. Rather than relying on faulty memories, they recorded these events at the time they occurred. Eventually, standards were established for which events should be documented in the log. They probably assumed that accurate records were necessary to determine the causes of success and failure."

"Captain, do you think that such a record might have any value?"

"Under the present circumstances, I would prefer to rely on my memory of events. In fact, each time I review these memories, they seem to present a more favorable version of my mission."

"Captain, in view of your fine record of service and our commitment to management innovation, we feel we should provide you with another outlet to implement your management innovations. Henceforth, you will command Golf Cart Squadron Two on the Starfleet golf course."

Years ago as a naval officer on nuclear submarines, I learned the value of the ship's logbook. Every time I would take over the watch, I would first review the deck log. Whenever I was relieved by another officer, I would sign the log as the off-going Officer of the Deck. Like me, countless generations of naval officers understand the purpose and value of the ship's logbook.

Today, I frequently work with companies conducting post mortems on development projects. I find that every project, regardless of outcome, contains superb practices that should be preserved and poor ones that should be eliminated. Every world-class development organization uses some sort of post-project review to crystallize the lessons it learns and preserve and communicate them.

Yet I'm struck by the curious absence of project logbooks. Usually, there's no unified record of key project events and decisions. Instead, we sort through file folders trying to guess when the beta test started, when the capital appropriation got approved, or when the new marketing person was assigned. It's awfully difficult to be objective with no objective data.

Fortunately, I occasionally encounter a project that keeps a good project-history file. When new members join the team, they're given this history file to review. It's a great way to quickly bring new members up to speed. The project-history file can accurately capture the context and intention of decisions at the time they occur. I'm genuinely surprised that more people don't use this simple tool.

Don Reinertsen is a consultant specializing in product development management. He is coauthor of "Developing Products in Half the Time" and author of the new book, "Managing the Design Factory." Reinertsen & Associates, (310) 373-5332; e-mail: DonReinertsen@compuserve.com.

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