Use Status Reports to Manage Expectations

Let’s face it - typically Status Reports are not as effective as they should be. This is true for team members that submit Status Reports to the project manager, as well as project managers that are submitting Status Reports to their major stakeholders. One of the major reasons is that the people completing the reports look upon them as a chore and not as a way to communicate valuable information. You typically get a Status Report that is very brief and says nothing, or else you get a Status Report that contains all the mundane activities that a person did.

The person creating the Status Reports needs to write it so that the reader can use the information in them in the decision-making process. The information needs to be of value. The writer should ask himself whether the information on the Status Report is there to really communicate something valuable or is it just taking up space.

Information to include in your report

Typically the Status Report should focus on the following:

• Accomplishments against the assigned activities on the schedule

• Comments on work that should be completed but is behind schedule

• Problems (issues) encountered, the impact to the project, and what is being done to resolve them

• Scope change requests

• Newly identified risks

• Observations that will be useful to the reader

If you focus on this type of information in your Status Report, you will find that the information is meaningful and can be used to help manage the project and keep the stakeholders informed. People will stop paying attention if you report on the trivial events of the reporting period.

Report on a “frequent enough” basis

The frequency of status reporting is based on the length of the project and the speed in which you need to react. For instance, if your project is two months long and the project manager receives Status Reports from the team members on a monthly basis, there is not enough time to respond if problems are reported. A good rule of thumb is as follows:

• Small projects may not need formal status reporting.

• Team members on medium projects should report status every week.

• Team members on large projects should report status every week or perhaps every two weeks.

Status updates are also somewhat situational. For instance, if critical activities are occurring, you may need to communicate status updates on a daily basis. This may be the case around implementation time when a lot of work needs to converge in the final days of the project.