What the heck is a twenty floor status report? Picture you getting on the elevator at work, and just before the elevator doors slide shut, one last person gets in the elevator. It’s your boss… and he or she asks that fateful question – “Hey how’s such and such a project going?” What are you going to say?

Project managers will tell you they spend way too much time doing status reports, in some organizations I’ve worked with, all I seemed to do was status reports! Every company seems to have their own status report template, and the big question is are they effective?”. If you can’t articulate the progress of a project in twenty floors, you’re missing the mark, and here’s why.

In the IT and engineering world, there are many “detailed oriented people”. Ask an engineer what time it is and more often than you’d like, you will be told how to build a clock. Or so the adage goes. Somewhere hidden in all that fascinating information about building a clock, they may, or may not, actually tell you the time. The odds are better your eyes will glaze over and you might not care any more…

Project managers often succumb to the same urge. In fact, project managers should be detailed oriented! We want them immersed in the minutia of the project; it just doesn’t belong in a status report! Of course, there is the other side of the coin. Project managers that never give status reports at all. “I’m too busy putting out fires to do those” they cry!

The quote often but incorrectly attributed Alberta Einstein of “if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough” has great relevance. (I was unable to find a good source for who actually the quote should be attributed to). Nevertheless, the process of status reporting should always be seen as and opportunity to stand back from the day to day firefighting and ask yourself “where are we?, what issues do we have and what are we doing about them? and finally, what risks are imminent and how can we mitigate them? Swamped by emails, phone calls, questions, meetings and the hundred other things that make up a project managers day this demands no small amount of discipline. But it’s a crucial task.

To be continued...