Second, the status report is an opportunity to provide data for decision making and action. The status report can include information about problems or opportunities and the actions that the project manager recommends to respond to the events that have occurred. Status reports can also contain change requests and the data needed by decision makers with information and recommendations on the decisions they need to make. Some project managers make the mistake of hiding problems in the status reporting process hoping that corrective action or a miracle will occur. When these problems become too large to hide the project manager will suffer a significant loss of credibility. Executives do not like to hear about big problems late, particularly if it is too late to do anything about them. Status reports should also always include the project manager's recommendations for corrective action on the problems at hand.
Status reporting can either build or destroy your credibility. You can look in control or look like a nincompoop. The later will get no help solving problems. The key to good status reports is to lay a foundation during planning with accurate estimates of the work in each major task. Then you can track the work remaining and accurately forecast the finish date. That foundation allows a project manager to deliver status reports based on data not guesses. We discuss best practices for status reporting and then offer a video on how to conduct the first status meeting on a new project to set the ground work for the remainder of the project.
How to Track Project Progress and Report Status |
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Step # |
Responsibility of |
Actions to take |
1 |
Project manager |
Effective project tracking starts with the definition of the tasks in the work breakdown structure. Each task must be defined as a deliverable with a measurable end result. If the tasks are defined vaguely and we have to make subjective judgments about progress and completion, tracking will be ineffective. |
2 |
Project manager and team members |
For each task, they estimate the number of work hours that are required to complete work on the deliverable. Only with an estimate of hours can we accurately track progress |
3 |
Project manager |
Sets up a tracking procedure where each team member reports how much work they have completed on each task and more importantly how much work remains to finish the task and complete the deliverable. The project manager also establishes a frequency of status reporting and weekly is best. |
4 |
Team members |
Team members report their progress on the task assignments on a weekly basis with particular emphasis on estimating the number of hours of work to complete their task |
5 |
Project manager |
Gathers the team member status reports and enters them into the project management scheduling system, which automatically compares the progress to date with the planned progress to that date. |
6 |
Project manager and team members |
Assesses all of the variances between plan and actual results. The project manager communicates with each team member who has variances on their tasks to discuss the causes and what they can collectively do to correct adverse variances. |
7 |
Project manager, sponsor and stakeholders |
Project manager reports on variances and provides alternatives for corrective action to bring actual performance into line with the baseline schedule and budget. |
Deep Dive on This Topic with Additional Articles:
Using the Critical Path to Optimize Your Project Schedule
