After we finish a project, we feel rushed to move on to the next one. And after that one, the same. It can be an exhausting cycle that stifles productivity rather than encourages it. 

Taking time to evaluate your last project’s success is instrumental in improving the success of the next. You can determine what's working (or not working) with your current project framework. The project evaluation process is a great method to do just that. 

What is a project evaluation process?

A project evaluation process is your way of measuring your last project’s success. Just as projects differ so do their evaluation processes. All project evaluation methods, however, can be broken down into a number of steps. Consider this framework for how to evaluate a project:

1. Pre-project evaluation: During pre-project evaluation, you estimate the project’s goals, timelines, and success. Essentially, you are envisioning how your project will go and pitching it to stakeholders and team members. 

2. Ongoing project evaluation: Check in with team members on their progress to make sure the project is on track. The ongoing project evaluation allows you to address concerns and catch problems as they arise. 

3. Post-project evaluation: Once the project is complete, you can evaluate the results produced. Managers can determine if the project's objectives and goals were met by collecting data and getting feedback from team members. This step is key to understanding what went well and what could be improved. 

4. Self-evaluation: While self-evaluation can occur at any point in the project evaluation process, it is important to reflect after the project is finished. Self-evaluation is a chance to address your own successes and failures, both as an individual and as part of a team. 

5. External evaluation: In large projects with many stakeholders, it may be beneficial to hire an agency to evaluate your project process. Those with an outsider’s perspective may be able to point out issues and concerns that team members could not. 

Why have a project evaluation process?

• Increase efficiency and reduce costs: A project evaluation process can help you decrease the time a project takes and reduce costs, ultimately making your project more successful. 

• Boost team performance: The project evaluation process encourages team members to take responsibility for their work and reflect on how they can improve. 

• Create an organic record for reference: Team members and stakeholders can look back on past projects to help optimize future projects. 

• Measure the success of the project: The post-project evaluation is a chance to collect data and results, allowing teams to see the tangible outcome of their work. 

• Include stakeholders in the project process: Whereas the pre-project evaluation gives stakeholders expectations for the project, the post-project evaluation lets them see the results. Both can reassure stakeholders about the project and create an opportunity for them to offer their input. 

• Address problems as they arise: Since evaluations occur before the project is started, during its execution, and after it is completed, team members and project managers can see and solve concerns as they come along. 

How to measure the success of a project

Quantifiable metrics that measure the success of your project are called key performance indicators (KPIs). Choosing a KPI depends on the type of project and the outcome you are expecting. Basic KPIs include: 

• Cost variance (CV): CV measures the difference between actual and predicted costs. It shows whether a project is over or under budget, offering helpful data for future projects. 

• Schedule performance index (SPI): Divide the earned value (how much progress has been made) by the planned value (how much progress was planned) to calculate the SPI. The project is behind schedule if the SPI is less than 1.0.

• Cost performance index (CPI): Divide the earned value by the actual costs of the project to show how much progress results from the project’s costs. The project is over budget if the CPI is less than 1.0.

• Burndown charts: Burndown charts visualize a project’s progress by showing what the team has completed and what they still need to complete. 

• Cycle time: In agile development, cycle time measures the time from when a task is assigned to when it is completed. This metric allows project managers to plan timing for current and future projects. 

Steps to measuring and evaluating a project

Now that you know about the metrics, or KPIs, used for project evaluation processes, here’s how to incorporate them into those processes. 

1. Defining the purpose and goals: It is difficult to evaluate a project if you do not know what the expectations of that project are. Establishing a project’s goals usually occurs during the pre-project evaluation. However, teams should be able to remind themselves of the project’s purpose at any time and even adapt that purpose if need be. 

2. Assess the current status of a project: Projects are rarely completed in one fell swoop but in bits and pieces. As your project progresses, you can see what has been done, what needs to be done, and what can be improved upon. 

3. Collect and analyze data from the project: To more clearly see your project’s success, collect data that shows tangible results. For example, you may collect data around the project’s timeline, team efficiency, or the outcome that the project produced. 

4. Establish KPIs: From the data collected, determine which KPIs provide the most insight for your evaluation. For instance, an advertiser might choose KPIs like the click-through rate or cost per click. 

5. Monitor KPIs: As you progress through the project, or even across projects, it is important to watch how the values of your KPIs change. For instance, seeing fluctuations in KPIs across projects can help you determine which strategies are most effective.

Using Lucidspark for your project evaluation process

A project evaluation process is a joint effort and can often feel overwhelming. If you’re looking to bring clarity to your evaluation, virtual whiteboards are a great place to start. 

With Lucidspark, everyone involved in a project can contribute to the evaluation in an organized manner. For example, here are a few features that are perfect for project evaluation processes: 

• Establish timelines and goals: Organization is especially key to the pre-project evaluation stage. Lucidspark’s visuals make your project’s purpose understandable and clear. 

• Check in with team members’ progress: Since you can add team members as collaborators to your Lucidspark board, it is easy to keep track of how your team is doing and address any setbacks.

• Create organic records: The framework and results of your project evaluation can be looked back upon for later reference, making future projects more efficient. 

• Customize templates to fit your needs: Lucidspark has templates that can help you start your evaluation process, and then you can adapt them to suit your purpose.

Evaluations can seem tedious. But, when done correctly, they can vastly improve your insight and productivity on future projects. While results may not come immediately, collecting data and feedback will never hurt your future projects. Rather, they pave the way for them.