Is this the look you get from your stakeholders after spending hours creating your status report? If you’re like most project managers, you love details. Most executives don’t. A busy president or VP doesn’t have time to look at all the details of your project. That’s your job. What does an executive want to know, and how do you communicate the status of your project effectively? A Senior Project Manager understands that this is a key responsibility of his or her job and can set them apart from the pack.
There are few things you can do to ensure you’re reporting status effectively. Hear are a few tips:
- You will likely only get through 3 or 4 slides in 30 minutes
- Know the details, but don’t necessarily show them. If you need to, put them in an appendix at the back of your report
- Understand what your owners are concerned about? If you don’t know, ask them.
- Use a one-page dashboard that clearly indicates the status of the project.
- Overall Color Status
- Executive summary – No more than 3-4 sentences! Is the project on track to deliver the business need?
- KEY risks and issues – only those that you need help with, or which have the potential to impact your overall schedule
- Financial summary
- WHAT you need them to do?
- KEY accomplishments
- Include a one-page context diagram or high-level schedule with key business milestones
- Keep this very simple. A picture paints a 1000 words
- Break this out by work-streams or sub-projects
- If you have a significant issue or risk, include a third slide that summarizes it.
- Problem Statement
- What is the impact to the project?
- When does it need to be resolved by?
- What needs to happen to resolve it and who owns it?
- What you need from your stakeholders
All the best!
All the time!
JT