the nys forum project management workgroup presents: project management ... reporting...

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The NYS Forum

Project Management Workgroup

Presents:

Project Management Community of

Practice - Status ReportingSeptember 18, 2018

2:00 - 4:00 pm

(1:30 pm Check-In)

The NYS Forum

24 Aviation Road, Suite 206, Albany New York

• Anishka Lunawat, Project Manager, Nagarro

• Richard Schreiber PMP, CSM, Principal Consultant, NYSTEC

NYS Forum Project Management Workgroup Community of Practice - Status Reporting - Agenda

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• Presentations• Anishka Lunawat, Project Manager – Nagarro

• Basics of status reporting

• What makes an effective status report

• Richard Schreiber PMP, CSM, Principal Consultant - NYSTEC• Audience needs

• Agile status reporting

• Two additional panelists • Nelly Egbuchulam – MBA/PMP, PM Shared Services Lead - NYSITS GL IT Portfolio

• Tina Mazzucco PMP, CSM, Project Manager - OSC

NYS Forum Project Management Workgroup Community of Practice


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Anishka Lunawat - Project Manager

Status ReportingSeptember 18th 2018

Presenting WorkgroupProject Management Workgroup

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What is Status Reporting?


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Status reporting - A snapshot of where things are at

• All the business-critical efforts, progress and risk associated with a project

• Pertains to the logical manner of sending and obtaining information and updates to and fromthe members of the team

• Done to keep team members and leaders updated on the status and progress of the team andthe business

• Frequency of the Status report depends on the audience and the need for the status update- Weekly Status – Project activities and daily tracked tasks- Monthly – Project health and milestone tracking- Quarterly – Resourcing and budget- Yearly - Profits and ROI


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Importance of status reporting


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Status reports: The path to informed decisions

• Helps set the right expectations with the stakeholders• To maintain a timely, consistent flow of information relating to project progress and

performance• To raise issues, problems and delays in a timely, actionable fashion• To provide sufficient reasoning and rationale for changes and adjustments to plans and

strategies• To monitor and track project costs and budget utilization• To lay a solid, practical foundation for informed decision making and creative problem

resolution• To acknowledge individual and team accomplishments in a timely, organized fashion• To provide a standardized mechanism for communicating “status” to project stakeholders


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Effective status reporting

Status reporting – Must haves

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Status reporting – Common mistakes

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• Don’t include too much static information about the background of the project

• Don’t send out the report via email without providing any context in the body of the mail

- Executives may never read the report, so provide a summary in the email itself

• Don’t send out bad news in a project report without speaking to people first- You don’t want your sponsor to read about a major issue without being there to explain the situation

Tools and techniques for status reporting

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Status reporting toolsSmart dashboards -

• Live display of team performance and overall progress

• Capture and organize data

• Update real-time to give the most recent status update

Charts – Ease of use

• Gantt charts and other graphical solutions help visualize project timelines, budget, resourcingand other key aspects

• Further drill down feature helps understand the summary shown in great detail

Reports – fast analytics

• Customized to user needs

• Shows comparison of trends and milestones, expenses, and other crucial aspects

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Sample DIY status reports

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Sample Status Report - 1

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Sample Status Report 2

Sample Status Report 3

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Tips from my experience

Frequently used techniques

• Be on time - if status is not timely, it is meaningless

• Be accurate - nothing is more damaging to performing organization credibility than inaccurate(or partial) information

• Don't hold back - if the news is bad, be open and upfront about it

• Don't be shy about good news - tout accomplishments (status reporting is part "marketing" -it's your job to "sell" project viability)

• Always be prepared to explain known and potential variances and trends (whether you areahead or behind)

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Frequently used techniques

• Don’t bury the lead - Reading patterns and eye tracking studies suggest that people focusmost on the top of the report and skim the rest

• Anticipate stakeholder concerns and interests - look at status from the "other side" and tryto meet information needs

• Know your audience - make your status reports relevant, concise and to the point

• A picture is worth a thousand words. Use charts, tables, colors and data visualization toolsto help break up long narratives (and avoid long narratives)

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Thank you!

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NYS Forum Project Management Workgroup Community of Practice


Richard A Schreiber Principal Consultant, PMP, CSM

A Practical Approach to Status Reporting

Status Reporting: Critical for Project Management

• Status Reporting is a primary communication tool that tells the story of the emerging health of the project or product to stakeholders and project sponsors.

• Today’s discussion will focus on the critical role Status Reporting plays for both Traditional and Agile Project Management disciplines

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Project Status Reports: The Importance of Communication

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Courtesy of Mark Price Perry

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Top 7 Tips for Developing Project Status Reports

1. Keep it short and sweet

2. Customize for specific stakeholder audience—laser focused

3. Keep it clean, crisp and well formatted

4. Make it accessible for everyone

5. Use the report as Talking Points in Status Update meetings, and as a tool for feedback

6. Apply continuous process improvement

7. Accept the report’s findings for what they are

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What Stakeholders really want in a Project Status Report?

1. Is the Project On Time? If Not, why not and what’s specifically lagging behind and why• What are you doing to address what’s not on time?

2. Is the Project On Budget? If not, why not and what specifically is over budget and why? • What steps are you taking to get back on budget and by when

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What Stakeholders really want in a Project Status Report? (cont’d)

3. What (additional) Resources may be needed to get back on schedule (last resort?)

4. What are the Project’s risks? • Is there a mitigation plan?

• If no, what is the exposure to the project from a time and cost perspective?

5. What decisions from the stakeholder are needed to help expedite the Project?

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Customize Your Project Status Report to the Audience

• The critical components of a Project Status Report explained—the How’s (of what your Stakeholder(s) want):

• Deliver a Report format customized to stakeholder needs and requirements

• Determining the right Project Status Report format is like gathering requirements; Ask

Share drafts

Fine tune it iteratively

Decide (settle on a finished product)

Stakeholder Personas…

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A Project Status Report Can Be:

• Many formats and templates to choose from

• Pie Charts, bar graphs, stackable graphs, bar/line graphs, heat maps

• MS Project Gantt Charts that show task status

• Text-driven content, Risk Assessments, work product produced, milestones/highlights, etc.

• What your audience wants to see and how they want to see it

• Your stakeholder may even have a standard Status Report format that they want you to follow which eliminates all the guess work

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Status Report Samples

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Agile Status Reports: it isn’t an Oxymoron

• Traditional Agilists will argue that there are no such things as Status Reports in Agile. Scrum.

• BUT in the hybrid world, there are stakeholders unfamiliar with Agile that may not practice Agile, who require traditional Project Status Reports.

• The solution: look to operate in both worlds. Traditional Project Status Reports are still a reality, and of course, don’t fight reality, embrace it, roll with it. That’s being a true Agilist!

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Agile Status Reports, Some Examples *

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*Courtesy of Atlassian

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Agile Status Reports—what would they include:

• Use of Agile Metrics can optimize project delivery: A Sprint Burn down Chart tracks work done vs. forecast

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The Blue Line represents the forecast burn down path and the Orange Line, the actual, based on the number of Story Points completed

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Agile Status Reports (cont’d)

• Use of Agile Metrics can be used to optimize project delivery: A Velocity Chart measures consistency and trending of productivity. Changes

in consistency (Increases or decreases) are barometers.

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The Blue bar represents the Work that is Committed to in Story Points for each Sprint and the Green bar, the actual Work Completed in Story Points.

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Agile Status Reports (cont’d)

• Use of Agile Metrics can be used to optimize project delivery: In the Kanban world, a cumulative flow diagram shows if the workflow is

consistent or not. Bumps in the chart show issues and bottlenecks that can be looked at more closely.

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The Blue Area represents the To Do Work the Green Area, what is In Progress, and the Teal area, what is Done. You can see the gap is widening between what is To Do vs. Done + in Progress.

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To Summarize

• The Project Status Report is a Critical Communication Tool on a Project

• The Project Status Report is the ideal platform for stakeholders to stay engaged on the progress and/or challenges of a project

• Know your audience and know what it is they are looking for in a report

• Always look for ways to improve the report

• Continually ask stakeholders if additional report information (charts, graphs, content) and/or formatting changes are needed

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Richard Schreiber, PMP, CSMNYSTECPrincipal [email protected]

Questions?

mailto:[email protected]

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