Evaluations are central to working within the retail sector as retail companies rely on the reviews of their products, services and customer satisfaction to help monitor and improve the business.
Even internally, reviewing is essential in order to move forward and help improve efficiency, creativity and productivity. Project evaluation helps you get the most out of each project and to ensure you’re moving in the right direction.
Before you swiftly start on the next project, set aside some time to review with your team the ins and outs of the work you’ve just completed. When you’re ready, look at each of the following areas in detail so you’re able to improve each project.
The team
Firstly, consider how well your team worked together. Were there any disagreements or did everyone get on fantastically? Was there a creative chemistry that helped you come up with inventive ideas for the project, or was there a missing creative spark in the group?
Answer truthfully and decide if there were any areas that could be improved for next time. Communication is key to ensuring a project gets off to a good start, so don’t let yourself succumb a mismatched team on every project.
While we all may have to work with those we don’t get on with, try to resolve any difficulties between team members before they have a chance to grow into a larger problem.
Equipment
Once you’ve gone over how well the team worked together, the next consideration to make in your project evaluation is how well the equipment you used was suited to your needs. Did you require any specialised systems? If so, were they suitable for the job you required them to do? Did you need to train any staff members in how to use them?
Or perhaps there was equipment you required that you could not get hold of. Maybe budget became a problem. Review this and think about how you’ll overcome similar issues in the future. This way, you’ll be able to think ahead and work out the kinks more easily.
Setting up
In preparation of your project’s execution, were there any specific issues you came across? Or perhaps you found setting up for your project a smooth-running event, with no problems whatsoever.
Whether your set up was a nightmare or a dream, make sure you include it in your project evaluation. Often, getting prepared for a project can be more stressful than actually carrying out, so reviewing exactly how it went means you can see what could have been simplified.
Attempt to consider every aspect possible, from any promotional issues you came across to the smooth handling of communication when a problem was about to rear its ugly head. Doing so will help you the next time you and the team begin preparing projects.
Execution
When it comes to looking at the execution of your project, you should not just take a sweeping glance and pick out the parts that didn’t go well. Instead, take a detailed look at the entire picture during your project evaluation: the good, the bad and the ugly.
The good
It can be easy to forget to review a project that ran oh so smoothly. However, it’s just as important to review what went well in your project as it is to review what went badly. This way, you’re able to analyse why what worked well, did so.
Was it because of the good organisation prior to the project launch, or perhaps you managed the team in such a way that the whole project benefitted? Identifying these factors means you’ll be able to replicate them in subsequent projects.
The bad
Of course, there’s no point in reviewing a project if you aren’t going to have a look at what went wrong. It may not have been the most pleasant experience when your carefully planned project fell down around your ears, but that doesn’t mean you can brush it off just yet.
Identifying the reasons why a project went wrong will be your best weapon when you begin planning the next one.
The ugly
If anything went catastrophically badly during the course of your project, you’re going to get out the magnifying glass and start inspecting every aspect of the project. This is vital for not only future projects but the reassurance of your team and your bosses.
You need to create a coherent pitch each time you have an idea for a project, and if your last idea didn’t go as planned, your superiors will want to know what you’re going to do differently. Plan for this in advance by looking in detail at your previous project.
