You crossed the last t, dotted the last i, sent off the final files, and submitted the invoice. Now it’s time to take a deep breath, give yourself a pat on the back, and enjoy a little reward. 

Or is it?

Do Future You a favor and take an extra 10–15 minutes to do a project review while it’s fresh in your mind. 

What is a project review?

A project review looks at various aspects of the project you just finished to give you insights on what’s working, what’s not working, and how you might improve your processes. In conjunction with your project metrics (you are keeping track of your metrics, right?), it gives you clarity about your work and sets Future You up for success.

What questions should I ask?

Here is my current list:

• What went well?
• What could have gone better?
• Were there any aspects of this project that I want to avoid in the future?
• Were there any sticking points that could have been improved with some kind of automation, shortcut, or macro?
• Did the project point out any areas I need to brush up on?
• Do I feel like I was fairly compensated for this project?
• Did I feel good about working on this project?
• Would I enjoy working with this client / author / type of book again?

This doesn’t have to be a formal process — although it could be, if that’s the way your brain likes it. I run through it mentally and make any necessary notes in my notes program (with the appropriate tags), create tasks in my task management program, and update my checklists as needed. You could make your question list into a TextExpander snippet and create a document for every project if you like.

Real-life example: Project mismatch

Several years ago I worked on a book that I simply did not like — the characters’ worldviews did not jibe with my worldview, and it needed a lot of work. In my project review, I noted that it made me irritable and that I did not feel like the fee was adequate for the work required. I made a note to myself to turn down books from this author in the future. When the next in the series came along and was offered to me, I was able to search the author name in my notes, find the relevant notes, and avoid putting myself through three more weeks of bad mood.

Had it been only the compensation aspect of that project that was off, I could have used that information to negotiate a higher fee. But from my notes I knew that I did not want to work on more projects from this author at all. (No shade to the author; not every author-editor match is meant to be, and they found someone else who I hope enjoyed the work more.)

Real-life example: Improved processes

I work with a prolific author who quotes a lot from various versions of the Bible, and part of my job is checking those quotes. Looking up verses used to be a slog: Copy the citation, move to the browser window, paste in the verse, choose the right translation, hit Enter. After a half dozen or so of these books and constantly noting the sticking point of the lookups, I thought there had to be a better way. I set aside some time for brainstorming and eventually realized that I could take a dictionary lookup macro and modify it to do verse lookups in various translations. 

A couple of years ago, I learned about the StreamDeck, a peripheral with keys that lets you program those keys to do various tasks or series of tasks (thanks, too many hours on YouTube!). I got one for myself, and now I have a menu of single-key shortcuts for each of the common translations that author uses. Now all I have to do is highlight the verse citation and hit the key for the appropriate translation. Yes, that cost money and a bit of time to set up, but over time, it has paid for itself in saved keystrokes and cognitive load. 

And a final revelation with that same set of projects: In my project reviews I noted that switching back and forth from copyediting to verse checking was taking a toll on my energy. A few months ago, when I received a devotional project, which has a verse for every day of the year followed by commentary, I decided to try checking all the epigraph verses first, then going back to the text. What a difference! I still have to check verses within the flow of text, but there are far fewer of those, and my brain is so much happier not having to switch gears at every page turn. 

Implement your own project review

I hope this inspires you to take a few moments after you turn in a project to do a review of your own. I’d love to hear what questions you ask and what kinds of changes those revelations have led you to make.

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