In Lookback, Projects and Rounds serve different purposes and persist for different lengths of time.
Understanding what belongs at each level helps explain why some things apply across studies while others are scoped to a specific effort.
Project-level objects
A Project is the long-lived container for everything related to a research initiative.
Things that live at the project level are:
relevant across multiple studies,
persistent over time,
intended to inform ongoing understanding.
Examples include:
Stakeholder interviews
Stakeholder Goals
Themes
AI-assisted exploration (Discover)
Project-level objects are not tied to a single execution of research.
Round-level objects
A Round represents a specific research effort within a project.
Things that live at the round level are:
created to answer a particular set of questions,
scoped to a specific method or timeframe,
complete once the study is finished.
Examples include:
Sessions
Participants
Moderated or unmoderated study setup
Rounds help organize execution, not long-term knowledge.
Why this distinction exists
This separation allows Lookback to:
support multiple studies within the same project,
preserve context and learning over time,
avoid duplicating project-level understanding across rounds.
If something feels like it should “carry forward” beyond a single study, it usually belongs at the project level.
How this affects daily use
If you don’t see something inside a round, check whether it lives at the project level.
If something applies to all current and future studies, it likely doesn’t belong in a round.
Projects hold knowledge.
Rounds run studies.