Tips and Advice for a Successful Project Review
One of the key areas to get right in any sort of project is the review cycle. Setting an internal standard and process for project reviews improves efficiency and helps keep a project working to its timeline and within budget. Based on the expertise of our specialists and years of experience doing project reviews across a range of industries, we’ve pulled together some practical tips and advice that you can action when reviewing your own projects.
Who should be involved in a review?
Often, project costs increase, and timelines extend when extra people join the review process at a later stage and alter decisions that were previously made. So, before starting the review process, you will
need to decide who needs to review the work before a project can be signed off.
Here’s a checklist of people to consider including during the review phase:
- Has the senior person in charge of the project seen and approved the work?
- Has the subject matter expert reviewed the content to ensure it is technically correct?
- Has the project manager checked to make sure the content meets the overall goal of the project?
- Has the marketing department checked the content to make sure it is acceptable and brand-compliant?
- Has the person responsible for the company values checked the content to make sure it matches the company values and goals?
What’s needed to conduct a review
Here are some tips based off our experience running project reviews:
1. Use one live, shared document
Using one live, shared document for all reviewers to view is very important. This ensures everyone has the most up-to-date version of the document and avoids confusion around any changes or feedback.
2. Use tracked changes
We recommend using tracked changes where possible as it clearly shows how and what has been changed. This makes for easy review.
3. Identify issues
It can be very beneficial for reviewers to see each other’s comments as it encourages conversation and debate for efficient decision making. It can also identify issues for senior decision-makers to consider and give clarity around aspects of the project.
How to structure review timelines
Make sure that everyone who has a contribution or influence on the project is included in the review team from the very start.
Consider what areas you need to give feedback on. This should happen naturally as a result of making sure you have included all the necessary stakeholders at the start.
Create deadlines for reviewers to submit feedback. Late feedback is one of the biggest risks to a project deadline, especially if late feedback conflicts with earlier feedback.
How to submit feedback
Feedback needs to be compiled and delivered in set stages. We recommend that a single person at your organisation is responsible for collecting and collating feedback from reviewers.