Project Status Reports
June, 2021 – Guy Thorpe – (3 min read)
Do we place too much emphasis on Project Status reports?
#Project status reports have long been seen as the lifeblood of information flow between Project Managers, Steering Committees, #PMO, and the org at large.
Interestingly, in Wellingtone’s – State of #projectmanagement survey 2021 “Project Status Reporting” was the highest-rated activity (out of 16) that PMO’s said they currently engage in (training was ranked number 15!).
Project status reporting scales well as we can aggregate vast numbers of projects in large orgs, but do we rely on status reporting too much over simple human interaction and inquiry?
Steve Jobs was famous at Apple when wanting to understand an issue or make a decision on a project going directly to the source of the information.
This meant that a poor unsuspecting engineer would sometimes return to their desk to find Steve sitting in their cubicle waiting for them so he could ask them questions directly about a particular topic to further his understanding (Radical Candour).
I’m not advocating that we throw out Project Status reports completely, but reducing the emphasis on them and considering them as simply “one” source of information is key. Supplement them with open discussion with those closest to the information.
