This document contains guidance on how to conduct an After Action Review.

You can find more details on After Action Reviews on Chapter 8 of Learning to Fly

After Action Review (AAR)

The content on this page is based heavily on the book 'Learning to Fly by Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell (Capstone Press, 2004) with permission from the authors. You can find much more material on AARs on the Internet.

The idea of an After Action Review is that immediately after an 'action', you take the time to reflect on what has just happened, so that you learn from it and can improve your performance.

The Review consists of 4 questions:

• What was supposed to happen?
• What actually happened?
• Why were there difference?
• What can you learn from this?

AARs are ideal for looking back at short specific tasks which have clear, specific outcomes. They are meant to be short and direct. Their sole objective is to help individuals and the group to do better next time.