It seems everyone wants to know the status of my projects.
I already provide weekly and monthly reports to the customer, my team, my managers, and other stakeholders, but I am still frequently stopped in the halls and asked for a quick update.
I found these impromptu queries are usually interested in 1 or more of the followings:
- Is the project on schedule? (schedule)
- What milestones or deliverables are we working on? (schedule)
- What is happening next? (schedule)
- Are the project risks causing any concern? (risks)
I usually try to stay out of the weeds and keep any oral reporting at a high level answering the question asked. However, occasionally I’m asked to provide more detail. When that happens, I find the following outline helpful:
- Current work activities
- Recent accomplishments
- What’s happening next
- Current issues and how they are being addresses