Lessons · Project management · a status report in three numbers
A status report that tells the truth in three numbers
A status report leads with one line of status, then percent complete, CPI and SPI, then what changed, the top risks and issues, and the decisions needed from the reader.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
The report says on track for four months and then asks for $80,000 in month five. Every reader now distrusts every report. Three numbers each month would have shown the CPI sliding from 0.95 to 0.85 to 0.80, and the ask would have come in month three, at half the size.
How to think about it
Write the numbers first, then the words that explain them. Percent complete is EV / BAC, never hours spent. CPI and SPI with the trend from last month. Then, in order: what changed, what is at risk, what you need decided. If the words and the numbers disagree, the numbers are right and the words are rewritten.
Worked example
Status: behind schedule, under cost. Needs a decision on the test dateOne line. The reader may stop here.
Complete: EV / BAC = 72,000 / 160,000 = 45%. CPI 1.20 (last month 1.15). SPI 0.90 (last month 0.95)Three numbers, with direction.
Changed: CR-014 approved, test start moved 3 daysWhat is different since the last report.
Top risk: vendor delivery, 30%, $8,000. Decision needed: approve one contract tester for 4 weeks, $9,600, to recover the scheduleA risk with a size, and an ask with a price.
Your turn
Write the fraction that gives percent complete.
percent complete = EV /
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Reporting percent complete as hours spent over hours planned. That is money, not work. A team can spend 60% of the hours and have done 40% of the job, and only EV / BAC shows it.