Reporting Status

In several of my previous episodes, I've mentioned that one way to stand out is to produce status reports that are value focused instead of task focused.  This week, I go into more detail about what that type of status report would look like.

Purpose and Audience

The first thing to understand about a status report is its purpose.  By knowing who the audience is you can properly tailor the report to meet the purpose that they care about and summarized appropriately.  For your clients and stakeholders, it's a means to communicate project progress.  For your manager, a status report ensures that they are able to track your performance against your annual goals.  For executives, it's an opportunity to update them on company initiatives.

Did you notice something?  The purpose of a status report differs based on the audience and they aren't one-size fits-all.  This implies that you would be creating different status reports for each audience.

The other thing to be aware is that each different audience will likely need a different cadence for reporting status.  Clients and stakeholders are more engaged in your day to day activities and would require more frequent updates.  Executives have a higher level focus and may only need updates a couple of times per quarter.

Content

Status reports that just list the things you've done are very forgettable.  Regardless of who your status is for, the key is to transform your status updates from task-focused to value-focused.  If you want to make an impression and stand out, focus less on the tasks and more on the outcomes.  Activities that do not provide value likely aren't worthy of being included in a status report.

Instead of saying: "Automated reporting of our KPIs"

Say this: "Increased the productivity of my business partners leading to a $50k annualized savings by automating the reporting of our KPIs"

Instead of saying: "Delivered the Artemis project on-time and on-budget"

Say this: "Delivered the Artemis project within the planned 5 months and $1M budget which is projected to save the company $15M over the next three years"

These types of statements still reveal the work that you've completed but highlight the value that those activities provide.

Be sure to align the status with the purpose of your audience.  When updating your clients and stakeholders, the focus will be on project deliverables.  But if you are sending a status report to your manager, try to align the value with progress against your goals.

Structure

My background is in software development and in that field, we have a project management process called Agile SCRUM.  In each daily SCRUM meeting, every project participant is expected to speak to three key points: What did you do yesterday?  What are you going to do today?  and What things are blocked from progress?

I think a good status report more or less parallels those same three areas.  What value have you provided since the last status report?  What are your focus priorities going forward?  And what risks or impediments are you tracking that could prevent progress?

Additionally, keep your status reports succinct.  The intent is not to detail every single thing you do but to provide key highlights.  Noone is going to want to read multiple pages.  Try to keep the length to two or three paragraphs or just a handful of bullet points.  Develop a standardize template and use it consistently so that over time each recipient can learn to anticipate where the information most relevant to them is located.

If you haven't been sending status reports before, it may seem awkward at first, but by sending them regularly, the people you send them to will begin to associate "valuable" with you.  When it comes time for raises or promotions, that's an association that should give you an advantage.  And when faced with potential downsizing, it may even give you a layer of protection compared to others.

During this next week, identify the different audiences that you should provide with regular updates and create recurring events on your calendar to send those status reports.  Also, create a template that you can use when you send them out.  As you go through your week, keep track of what you have accomplished and how that provides value to each different audience.  When your calendar even occurs, summarize your activities and write the status report.  After you've done this for a couple of weeks, send me a note via the contact form on the ManagingACareer.com website to let me know how much of a difference they make.