“I wasn’t aware of this.”
“When do we plan to work on Accounts Payable? I need to schedule my resources.”
“How are we doing on budget?”
These are just a few of the questions that project managers may hear during the life of a project which is why it’s so important for you, as part of the customer project team or project sponsor, to be involved and read your weekly status report. All of these topics and more are covered each week to highlight and address information that is critical to the success of the project.
Status reports are prepared weekly by the project manager to provide valuable information to both the customer project team and management executives. They are a communication method of showcasing accomplishments, action items, and overall status of the project. They also bring all the important stuff to a single report:
• Scheduling and resourcing needs
• Changes to work scope and timeline
• Identify new risks and project alternatives
• Discuss prioritization and major issues that need to be addressed
• Recent work completed, focus for current work, and future planned activity
• Project Hours Billing Reports and Overall Actual to Budget metrics
Reading the status report makes you more vested in your projects. It will continually inform you of the high priority topics at hand and any changes to activity throughout the project. Staying current and being informed allows for the most efficient customer collaboration and the most effective method for responding to change. A principle focus in any project is answering questions about what needs to be done next and why. Status reports can be a key tool in answering these questions.
Nobody likes being left in the dark. We love to be in the know. Read your Weekly Status Reports - you won’t regret it.
