Whatever your goal – integrating a software system, creating a product or service, or putting on ten pounds of lean muscle – you have to stop periodically and take stock. CS Lewis wrote, “We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.” If you’re on the right road, a progress check will encourage you to keep going and, perhaps, help you to remain at the same pace knowing you’re moving in the right direction. A review of an ongoing project gives us that reality check, that weigh station, to see if we can proceed full speed ahead.

An interim project review can happen at virtually any point, and it is particularly useful when projects have a great deal of complexity, a large number of stakeholders, or political uncertainty associated with them. What makes these reviews so beneficial to project teams and stakeholders?

1. The reviews focus as on the overall health of a project as opposed to just the technical aspects i.e., did we cross our t’s and dot our i’s? A review can include stakeholder interviews, as well as a close look at deliverables. Are we making the required progress?

2. An outside expert or team is brought in to review the process of the project. This has its own set of advantages. Namely, when a project is given a clean bill of health, it becomes a good check for the steering committee that the project team is on the right track. Outside, independent confirmation provides that level of comfort for executives and stakeholders. They may hear the project team saying, “We’re good!” all day, every day. It is a comfort to have that verified.

3. These reviews can be a confirmation that the right architecture is in place; that we’re looking at the right issues; that we have the right pieces and components in place to meet deliverables. Again, the outside expert lends credibility to these assertions.

4. If the news isn’t all rosy (and when is it ever all rosy?), then these reviews give us the opportunity to reevaluate and get back on the right track. They can pinpoint what we’ve been missing or doing less than optimally, and they can suggest areas for improvement.

Are we making strides? Are we hitting our deliverables? Do we need to do an about-turn or can we proceed with greater confidence? When there are a lot of moving parts in a project and a great deal riding on its success, it is tremendously important to implement these audits or reviews and get a look at success to date.