Autonomic computing and policy based systems are closely related concepts that can be strong enablers for managing the next wave of information and network technologies. Lessons learned in these areas are therefore important not only for present day applications, but also for the future developments. In this paper we present some lessons learned in the deployment experiences with these technologies in the Government and the industry projects. The paper identifies the difficulties encountered in the practical development and deployment of these technologies, as well as possible approaches to overcome these difficulties.