Last week, I unofficially finished up a major project. This week, a wave of introspection has taken over, leaving me wondering what to do next and beginning to organize the stack of proofs and endless rounds of edits on my desk. 
I’m reading Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, and managed to find a quote that evokes content strategy just as much as world domination. Author Jack Weatherford writes:
“Genghis Khan’s ability to manipulate people and technology represented the experienced knowledge of more than four decades of nearly constant warfare. At no single, crucial moment in his life did he suddenly acquire his genius at warfare, his ability to inspire the loyalty of his followers, or his unprecedented skill for organizing on a global scale. These derived not from epiphanic enlightenment or formal schooling but from a persistent cycle of pragmatic learning, experimental adaptation, and constant revision driven by his uniquely disciplined mind and focused will … In each struggle, he combined the new ideas into a constantly changing set of military tactics and weapons. He never fought the same war twice.”
As we know from faded bumper stickers and forwarded emails from our mothers: it is not the destination, but the journey that matters. Use this modified adage for project review purposes: If you don’t take time now to reflect on the work you’ve done, how are you going to improve the next time around?
Warriors and writers unite: whether you have conquered the free world, sent a magazine to the printer or launched a new site, how do you wrap up a project? What questions do you ask your team, and how do you ensure that you are taking something away from the process and applying during the next iteration?
—Wendy Joan
photo from wikipedia
December 21st, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Love that passage about Genghis Khan. Thanks for sharing it!
To answer your closing questions, I find that the process of review and improvement comes naturally so long as you are always seeking to improve. One way I practice this is by making notes as I work through projects with ideas for better defining my process the next time around.
A formal review at the end is good too, but chances are you will forget some things if you wait until the end to record them.