The final stage of your project cycle is post-implementation review, which typically involves an outside party who can act more impartially when making decisions about how the project was handled. This gives the project’s stakeholders the assurance they need to know the project’s goals were achieved.
Project Management – Post Implementation Review
Tips to prepare for a post-project review
When preparing a post-project review, consider following these tips:
Choose a facilitator
When planning a post-project review, take into account who will compile the documents and oversee the assessment. You can complete this task if you are the project manager, or you can select an outside facilitator. An outside facilitator may be able to provide objective feedback. Typically, this facilitator is a member of your team who wasn’t involved in this particular project. A project manager might, for instance, write a post-review for another team.
Create an environment of trust and transparency
It’s crucial to get the team members’ honest and accurate input when composing a post-project review. Before the evaluation, think about going over the review procedure with your team members. You can describe how your team plans to use the findings to enhance upcoming projects. You might get more in-depth and sincere feedback if you emphasize the significance of this review.
Consider leading a post-project meeting
The post-project review document and a meeting are frequently included in the project closure. Team members can discuss the project and provide their individual feedback during meetings. The final review can include the meeting’s suggestions.
What is a post-project review?
Project managers can use a post-project review as a crucial tool at the conclusion of a project. Managers can use the review that follows the planning and execution of a project to evaluate the team’s workflow and offer recommendations for subsequent projects. Team members review the project and contrast the anticipated results with the actual results. They can use this data to develop the following actions and improve their business strategy.
Project managers can benefit from a post-project review in the following ways:
Elements of a post-project review
You can alter the evaluation’s components to suit your business’s and project’s needs. Typically, a project review contains the following information:
Project name and summary
You can start your review by stating the project name and a summary, which should be between one and three paragraphs long. You can discuss the initial project goals and purpose in the summary. This section clarifies your project’s history and overall goal for external team members, such as coworkers from another team or project.
Team members
You can list each team member’s name, title, and contact details in the following section. In the event that you have any additional queries or wish to recognize a particular achievement, this section can assist you in quickly locating team members. For instance, you can use the post-project review to get in touch with the experts who worked on that task if you want additional input on a particular strategy.
This section can also help you complete future projects. For instance, if you are overseeing a marketing project and require a strong graphic designer, you could read past post-project reviews to find out who in your company successfully completed design tasks. This person could assist you with your project or respond to specific inquiries about how they handled the situation.
Expected outcomes vs. actual outcomes
List the project’s anticipated results or goals in this section, then contrast them with the actual goals. Then you can write a brief summary detailing the comparison. For instance, the planned objective was for your team to sell 100 units. The actual result would be if you sold 110 units throughout the project. You could say that the team met or exceeded the predetermined goal in your summary.
Transition notes
The project’s progression to the following stage is explained in the transition section. Projects are transferred to new teams and project managers in some industries. For instance, in a production company, the research and design team may start the project. Before moving to a marketing or distribution team, it might then move to a manufacturing team.
You can briefly outline the entire transition process in this section. If the transition was successful, elaborate on the steps you took to make it more efficient. If your team encountered any difficulties, describe what transpired and how you intend to fix this for future projects. This can facilitate a smoother transition the next time.
Project expenses
You can contrast the project costs with the budgeted expenses in this section. Managers frequently outline the anticipated costs of various project tasks at the beginning of a project. You can include this information and input the actual costs. You may also leave a section for any comments.
Project milestones and schedule
Project managers can break down projects into distinct milestones to aid in progress monitoring. You can list each anticipated milestone and expected completion date in your review. Then you can add the actual date of completion. You may also include any relevant comments or notes. This can assist both you and your coworkers in making future project and deadline plans.
Recommendations
This crucial section outlines your team’s suggestions for the business and upcoming projects. Think about what went well and how you could repeat that for future tasks as you write this section. Also, think about any areas you’d like to change for upcoming projects. These suggestions can be briefly listed and numbered to make them easier to read.
Example of a post-project review
This sample review can serve as a model for your subsequent project cycle:
Project name and summary
Project name: Speed Solutions: Microwave 2.0 Project
SummarySpeed Solutions recently completed the Microwave 2. 0 Project. The goal of this project was to create a new microwave appliance to complement our current line of appliances. We wanted the new design to be 20% more energy-efficient and 10% faster at heating food
With this new product, we hope to expand our clientele and persuade current clients to replace their outdated appliances.
Team members
The following team members worked on the Microwave 2.0 Project:
Expected outcomes vs. actual outcomes
The project plan’s planned and actual objectives are described in detail in this section:
Objective 1
Objective 2
Objective 3
Overall, the team accomplished its three primary goals, which led to the project’s success.
Transition notes
The project was successfully handed off to the production and marketing teams for manufacturing and promotion after the team successfully designed an effective appliance. To facilitate the process, we established weekly meetings with the other teams to provide updates on the status of the work. They gained knowledge of the model’s significant changes and product design as a result.
Expenses
Task: Research and development
Budgeted cost: $10,000
Actual cost: $8,000
Task: Initial prototype build
Budgeted cost: $15,000
Actual cost: $14,000
Task: Initial user testing
Budgeted cost: $12,000
Actual cost: $13,000
Task: Design improvements and additional testing
Budgeted cost: $5,000
Actual cost: $6,000
Total budgeted cost: $42,000
Total actual cost: $41,000
Overall, the team finished the project for $1,000 less than anticipated. The testing and design refining stages were slightly over budget. It might be beneficial to allocate more money for these expenses in future projects to guarantee successful designs.
Project milestones and schedule
Task: Research and development Original completion date set for March 5, 2021 Actual completion date set for March 1, 2021
Initial prototype construction was assigned with an initial completion date of April 10, 2021.
Initial user testing was required. The task’s initial completion date was set for April 30, 2021.
Task: Additional testing and design improvements Original deadline: May 10, 2021 Actual completion date: May 15, 2021
Task: Project closure and evaluationProject completion date: in progressOriginal deadline: June 15, 2021
The team is currently finishing up project closure tasks and evaluation meetings. The project is currently following the expected schedule.
Recommendations
Here are our recommendations based on this project:
Consider prototyping early on and allocating more time to review and improve the design in light of the test results.
Continue holding weekly meetings with additional design teams throughout the project life cycle, such as production and manufacturing. This helps ensure the project moves to new teams efficiently.
Recommendation 3Adjust future budgets to account for more user testing after the design and prototype have been improved.
FAQ
What is the importance of project review?
- Conduct a gap analysis. …
- Determine whether the project goals were achieved. …
- Determine the satisfaction of stakeholders. …
- Determine the project’s costs and benefits. …
- Identify areas for further development. …
- Identify lessons learned.
What is post project completion?
Due to their singular focus on the most recent project an employee completed, project-based reviews set themselves apart from other types of reviews. As a result, the questions can be more directly related to the work, and the employee as well as the entire team can be evaluated in relation to the project’s measurable objectives.
What are four principles of effective Postproject reviews?
Although the project may be finished and ready for you to move in and enjoy, the contractors may still need to complete work to meet their contractual obligations before the last payment can be made.
