You’ve sold a project, created a budget, and estimated the workload. The plan is clear, the numbers are set, and you’re ready to go!
Then, as always, something changes…
An unexpected issue, client feedback, a delay in one phase, or a team member who becomes available earlier or gets stuck on another task. The project takes a different turn from what you originally planned. And you know it. But the budget… that remains frozen at the twenty days you estimated two months ago. Even if now you need thirty. Or maybe just fifteen.
That’s where the budget review comes in: a simple practice that often gets avoided, ignored, or postponed — but can literally save the project.
A budget review means updating the number of estimated workdays for a project while it’s still ongoing.
Not to cover your tracks. To reflect reality.
You do it to:
And here’s the thing: budget reviews should also be done when the number of workdays decreases. In fact, that’s often when they matter most.
If the days you estimated don’t match the reality of the work needed, updating the budget allows you to:
The key is: the budget should reflect reality, not a guess made months ago.
If you run a project-based company and never review budgets mid-project, chances are you’re living something like this:
And for those working on the project, the frustration is even greater:
👉 For the Project Manager, dealing with a “frozen” budget is a nightmare. You’re forced to allocate work off-the-books, manipulate numbers. You either fake the numbers or ask the team to fit work into limits that just don’t reflect reality.
👉 For the team, it’s hard to understand what you’re actually supposed to do, where to log hours, or why planning even matters. You’re told to keep things within 8 hours, but the work takes 12. Or you’re told last minute that tomorrow’s priorities have changed. If the budget doesn’t reflect the real work, then the work starts to lose meaning.
👉 For company leadership: Looking at financial data becomes a guessing game. Profitability is unreliable, planning is flawed, and decisions are made based on outdated estimates.
And all of this just to avoid doing something incredibly simple: acknowledging that the original plan no longer fits — and updating it.
Changing the budget mid-project isn’t cheating. It’s not “admitting failure.” It’s accepting that reality shifts — and our plans should evolve with it.
The project management literature (PMI, 2021) shows that organizations adopting continuous monitoring and adaptive planning during project execution consistently perform better, are more resilient, and complete projects more successfully.
Even though most studies focus on company-wide budgeting, the principle still applies to client work: updating forecasts regularly improves data accuracy, reduces planning misalignment, and supports better decision-making.
And when applied to project delivery, this kind of budget review helps manage resources more effectively and anticipate issues before they become problems — keeping execution aligned with original goals.
Reviewing the budget helps synchronize sales, management, and execution.
In wethod, you can update the budget at any point in the project. Add or remove workdays, see how the margin shifts immediately, and most importantly — see those changes reflected in the team planner.
The planning adjusts automatically. People are released only when they’re really done. And in the Insight section, you can track every project’s performance — by PM, by client, or by project type.
Because working better doesn’t mean getting everything right from the start.
It means knowing when to adjust — and doing it transparently.
Want to see it in action? Request a demo, and discover how much easier it is to steer your projects when your numbers actually tell the truth.
