Template
Project review template
This project review template is for the meeting held when a project ends: each objective against its target and the result, the schedule and budget planned against actual, what went well, what didn’t, the lessons learned, and the actions that carry them into the next project.
Fill in the builder and the review is laid out as a report for the team and the sponsor, or a download in Word, PDF or Markdown. It works as a lessons learned template too.
Project review · 7 parts
- 01Summary
- 02Objectives and results
- 03Schedule and budget
- 04What went well
- 05What didn’t go well
- 06Lessons learned
- 07Actions
Project review builder
Add each objective with its target, the result and whether it was met, then the schedule and budget, what went well and what didn’t, and the lessons and actions. The report appears beside the form. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
The review
Objectives and results
Schedule and budget
What the team learned
Actions for the next project
Preview
Your project review appears here as you fill in the form: objectives against results, schedule and budget, what went well and what didn’t, and the lessons learned. Or press Fill in an example.
Copy pastes as plain text into email, Slack, Google Docs or Notion. The Word file opens in Word, Pages and Google Docs.
NoteOwl records your project’s meetings on your Mac, so the review can draw on what was really decided, with each answer cited.
What should a project review include?
A short summary, each objective against its target and result, schedule and budget against plan, what went well, what didn’t, the lessons learned, and actions with owners. The actions are what make it more than a look back.
- Summary
- What to writeWhat the project delivered, in a sentence or two, and whether it did what it set out to.
- Objectives and results
- What to writeEach objective, its target, the result, and whether it was met.
- Schedule and budget
- What to writePlanned against actual, with the main reason for any gap.
- What went well
- What to writeWhat to repeat on the next project.
- What didn’t go well
- What to writeWhat cost time, money or quality. Describe the problem, not the person.
- Lessons learned
- What to writeWhat you’d do differently, written as advice to the next project team.
- Actions
- What to writeChanges to checklists, templates or habits, each with an owner and a date.
| Part | What to write |
|---|---|
| Summary | What the project delivered, in a sentence or two, and whether it did what it set out to. |
| Objectives and results | Each objective, its target, the result, and whether it was met. |
| Schedule and budget | Planned against actual, with the main reason for any gap. |
| What went well | What to repeat on the next project. |
| What didn’t go well | What cost time, money or quality. Describe the problem, not the person. |
| Lessons learned | What you’d do differently, written as advice to the next project team. |
| Actions | Changes to checklists, templates or habits, each with an owner and a date. |
A project review template to copy
Paste it into the project’s doc or a Word file and fill it in during the review meeting. It is plain text, so it keeps its shape anywhere.
Fill in the objectives, schedule and budget before the meeting from the project’s own records, so the meeting goes on what to learn.
PROJECT REVIEW Project: Review date: Project dates: Facilitator: Attendees: SUMMARY What the project delivered, in a sentence or two OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS Objective | Target | Result | Met / partly met / not met SCHEDULE AND BUDGET - Schedule: planned ... ; actual ... - Budget: planned ... ; actual ... WHAT WENT WELL - WHAT DIDN'T GO WELL - LESSONS LEARNED - ACTIONS FOR THE NEXT PROJECT Action | Owner | Due
Which questions should a project review answer?
Six: did we reach the goals, were we on time and on budget, what should we repeat, what hurt, what would we tell the next team, and what will change. Each one maps to a part of the template.
- Did we do what we set out to do?
- Where the answer goesObjectives and results
- Were we on time and on budget, and if not, why?
- Where the answer goesSchedule and budget
- What should we repeat?
- Where the answer goesWhat went well
- What cost us time, money or quality?
- Where the answer goesWhat didn’t go well
- What would we tell the next project team?
- Where the answer goesLessons learned
- What will we change, and who makes sure?
- Where the answer goesActions
| Question | Where the answer goes |
|---|---|
| Did we do what we set out to do? | Objectives and results |
| Were we on time and on budget, and if not, why? | Schedule and budget |
| What should we repeat? | What went well |
| What cost us time, money or quality? | What didn’t go well |
| What would we tell the next project team? | Lessons learned |
| What will we change, and who makes sure? | Actions |
What does a finished project review look like?
Like this review of a design studio’s website rebuild: three objectives (one met, two partly met), a week late and 15% over on hours, three lessons learned, and three actions with owners.
PROJECT REVIEW Project: Northlight Studio website rebuild Review date: Friday, October 2, 2026 Project dates: July 6 – September 25, 2026 Facilitator: Nina Park Attendees: Maya Rao, Leo Martins, Nina Park SUMMARY The new site launched on September 25, a week late, with the case studies and the booking page it set out to add. OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS - Publish a case study for each recent client project (6 case studies, 4 live, 2 waiting for client approval, Partly met) - Let prospects book an intro call from the site (Booking page live at launch, Live at launch, Met) - Fast pages on phones (Every page under 2 seconds on a phone, All but the work archive (3.1 seconds), Partly met) SCHEDULE AND BUDGET - Schedule: Planned launch September 18; launched September 25, waiting on case study approvals - Budget: 120 studio hours planned, 138 used WHAT WENT WELL - Writing the case studies before designing the pages - A 20-minute check-in every Monday kept decisions moving - The booking page worked on day one WHAT DIDN’T GO WELL - Client approvals for case studies took three weeks, not one - The archive’s images were never resized for phones - The launch checklist was written in the last week LESSONS LEARNED - Ask clients to approve a case study when their project ends, not when the site needs it - Check page speed on a phone before every launch - Write the launch checklist at the kickoff ACTIONS FOR THE NEXT PROJECT - Add case study approval to the project close-out checklist (owner: Maya Rao, due Oct 9, 2026) - Ask the two remaining clients to approve their case studies (owner: Nina Park, due Oct 9, 2026) - Resize the archive images and test the speed again (owner: Leo Martins, due Oct 16, 2026)
How do you run a project review meeting?
Hold it within a couple of weeks of the end, gather the facts beforehand, review results against objectives, collect what went well and badly without blame, and turn the lessons into actions with owners.
- 1
Book it soon
Within two weeks of the end, while people still remember.
- 2
Gather the facts first
Objectives, dates and budget from the project’s records, filled in before the meeting.
- 3
Review the results
Go through each objective: met, partly met or not met, and why.
- 4
Collect what went well and badly
Everyone writes first, then the team groups the points.
- 5
Agree lessons and actions
Each lesson becomes a change with an owner and a date, or it gets forgotten.
- 6
Share it
Send the review to the team and the sponsor, and keep it where the next project will find it.
Can NoteOwl help you write a project review?
Yes. If you recorded the project’s meetings with NoteOwl, ask it what was decided and when across all of them, with every answer cited. Record the review itself and NoteOwl writes the summary, the decisions and the action items with owners.
The whole project, searchable
Ask when the scope changed or why a date slipped, and NoteOwl answers from every recorded meeting. See chat with your meetings.
The review, written up
Record the review on your Mac and get its decisions and actions, each with an owner, when it ends. See AI meeting summaries.
Your own template
Write a Project review template with these headings in NoteOwl’s Templates screen, and summarize the meeting in that shape. See the built-in templates.
FAQ
Questions about project reviews
What is a project review?
A project review is a meeting and a short report at the end of a project that compares the results with the objectives, looks at the schedule and budget, and records the lessons learned and the actions for next time.
What is the difference between a project review and a retrospective?
A retrospective happens often, usually every sprint, and changes how the team works next time. A project review happens once, at the end, and also checks the results against the project’s goals.
Is a project review the same as a lessons learned meeting?
Mostly. A lessons learned meeting focuses on what to do differently; a project review adds the results against objectives, schedule and budget. This template covers both, so it works as a lessons learned template too.
What is a post-mortem?
A post-mortem is a review of something that went wrong, such as an outage or a failed launch, to find the causes and stop it happening again. Use the same template, with the problem in the summary and the causes under what didn’t go well.
When should you hold a project review?
Within about two weeks of the project’s end, while people still remember the details. On a long project, hold a short review at each major milestone as well.
Can NoteOwl record a project review meeting?
Yes. NoteOwl records the review call on your Mac, with no bot joining, labels each speaker, and writes the summary, the decisions and the action items with owners and due dates when it ends.
Related
- Retrospective template The regular look back: went well, to improve, try next.
- Decision log template Every decision the project made, with the reasons.
- Project update template Progress, decisions, blockers and next milestones from a meeting.
- Weekly status report template On track, at risk or off track, every week.
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