Four Tips for the Project Reporter

By Kenneth Darter

Managing the project is really only a small part of being a project manager. Sooner or later, someone (probably a stakeholder) is going to ask you to stand up and report on the project. You might need to talk about the status of the project or the progress made so far, or you might need to report on what has gone wrong.

You should always be ready to make a good presentation and report on the project whenever you need to--even in the elevator at times. Here are some ideas to get you started on being able to report on the project to a stakeholder, executive or whoever needs to know what is going on...

Just the Facts

First off, the project manager should be ready with just the facts. Opinions are certainly allowed, but only if they are backed up by facts. Hard data should drive the project reporting to the client or the stakeholders. The date and the facts about the project should be examined carefully and double-checked. While there are times that the project manager will need to draw conclusions from the data and present that, the best presentations lead the audience to be able to draw their own conclusions and opinions. The facts should be presented in such a way so that they can clearly see what is going on inside the project. A project manager’s belief that the project is on schedule is not nearly as impressive as showing the earned-value metrics in a meeting that prove that it’s on schedule.

Over-Prepare

The stakeholders and clients will always have questions. You need to anticipate what those questions are and be able to answer them in the meeting--or even provide the answer before the question is asked. It might be worthwhile to interview the audience before the meeting (either formally or informally) to find out what kind of information they will be looking for or just talk to previous project managers to find out.

The backup material should be just as prepared as the main presentation, including reviewing and perfecting it before the meeting. This information should be ready to go at the meeting whenever it may be called for. This type of preparation may seem like overkill, but when the hard questions are asked and the project manager is ready with the answer, it is worth all the effort in the world.

Practice Makes Perfect

You have all the information that is needed--and even quite a bit that probably won’t be. Now you need to practice (and practice some more) before the meeting. The client or the stakeholders are not there to waste time--they want to know what is going on with the project, and they want to know it quickly. The project manager should not be stumbling around through a slideshow trying to figure out what comes next on the agenda.

Any presentation or report should be carefully designed to fulfill the need of the stakeholders, and you should be ready to present it without wasting a great deal of time. Practicing can be done with the project team, other project managers or even with your dog; by all means, use anyone who will not get tired of hearing you rattle on about schedules and risks (i.e., your spouse).

What Needs to Happen Next?

The last item that should be discussed in any meeting on the status of the project should be, “What needs to happen next?” This discussion should include the next steps of what will happen on the project and--most importantly--what the audience needs to do to help the project make those next steps happen. This is the time to pull in the audience and make them a part of the project. If they need to know what is going on in the project, then they should have a vested interest in making the project succeed. That means that when you have given them the facts on the status and then let them know what needs to happen, they will be very interested to know what they can do to help; knowing what needs to happen next is just as important for the client or stakeholders as it is for the project manager and the project team.

About the author: 

Kenneth has 14 years of healthcare experience in government and private industry. Over eight years of experience managing healthcare IT projects, operations, contracts, and personnel. His work experience includes project management, contracts and procurements, data analysis, claims adjudication, business writing, and business process modeling. Kenneth was certified in 2006 as a Project Management Professional.

Source: projectmanagement.com