For several months, it was the hot decision. Staff scrambled to do the necessary research and there was a lot of give-and-take within conference rooms and away from work. Finally, the decision was made. On that day, the organizational memory sink began to drain.
Six months later, if you brought up the subject, people would say, "Oh yeah" and vaguely recall some aspect of the problem. A few people who'd opposed the course of action would gloat if things had not worked out. Aside from those renegades, there would be indifference. People have immediate projects and going back in time seems...weird.
Bring up the old decision five years later and you may as well be mentioning the ancient Greeks. There might be some hazy recollection but many of the key players will have moved on. If a related problem was on the table no one would propose going back to review the earlier decision to see what lessons had been learned because, hey, that was then and this is now. Besides that, who kept notes?
And that is how organizations squander the lessons of history.
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