What it Means to Review a Proposal

How is it that someone can read a 15 page proposal, and summarily score it in less than a page? A few concise sentences is all that it deserves? Well, maybe not, but it is pointless to restate the entire proposal in a proposal review. In fact, though it may seem harsh when there is less content in the review, this often is a good thing (for your proposal, at least) because it means there wasn't as much to talk about. If you have a solid project, then there just isn't as much to talk about. This cuts the other way too, though. If you have a truly horrible project, then there won't be much to talk about either, even if there is plenty to rant about. You usually know when a project is truly horrible though, so if you don't think this about your project chances are nobody else does either. This also doesn't mean, though, if there is a lot to talk about, your project isn't good. Sometimes, there are great projects that could almost be perfect with a few changes, and then the reviewer might just be enthusiastic to talk about these changes and why they need to happen. Sometimes, this will mean extra criticism or extended thoughts, but that does not necessarily show a decreased amount of interest in the product, sometimes it shows more.
So, in summary, the length of a review doesn't necessarily mean much. You have to look at the content of it. If the reviewer is saying this isn't going to work, then maybe you need to rethink it.. Or maybe the reviewer is just bad. But it's something you need to consider at least.