Have you been working hard on a project for several weeks or months?

Do you have a project review scheduled in the near future and are tempted to cancel it, “because there are more important things to do right now”?

Today’s post begs you to strongly reconsider canceling the meeting!

Here are some reasons to keep you on the straight and narrow the next time you consider nixing a project review:

You’ll drift further and further away from your goal.

Truth be told, the allure of putting temporary brakes on your current work for a project review can be far from sexy. However, if you don’t take the time to take a break to see where you’ve been, where you are and where you are going, you might just end up in a strange place that is nowhere near your original goal. A project review keeps you on track and honest with your goals.

You won’t catch an error, mistake or flaw in a timely fashion.

Have you ever had something like this happen to you? You set off for a car trip but don’t bother to check if your gas tank is filled for your journey. You drive for some time and then find yourself stranded on the side of a long, dry, lonely, dusty road with the gas tank reading a big fat “E.” If only you had checked the fuel gauge before you left! When you forgo a project review, you run the risk of having a tiny error, mistake or flaw grow into something big, bad and nasty.

You’ll miss something obvious.

As simple as this may seem, if you don’t take the time to review your project from an eagle-eye view instead of constantly looking at it with a microscope, you could miss something painfully obvious. Here’s a short conversation to illustrate my point:

“Alright people! We are all set to hold our annual gala tomorrow at our favorite hotel downtown. What’s our final RSVP count?”

“Uh, none, sir.”

“What do you mean none?”

“We never sent out the invitations.”

Ouch! I think you get my point.

You’ll waste time, money, energy and resources.

Leave a project unchecked and you could be doing more harm than good. Without project reviews there’s a strong possibility you will end up wasting lots of time, money, energy and resources correcting preventable issues, problems and concerns. You’ll literally be shooting yourself in the foot! While you are fixing yesterday’s costly mistakes, you’ll also be putting a damper on the production or completion of future projects.

Now to you…have you ever cancelled a project review? Did you suffer any unfortunate outcomes as a result of canceling said review? Leave a comment below and join the conversation!