Death by Reporting.

David Cook Director New Generation| Jamaica Public Service Co. Ltd Kingston, Jamaica

How do we make our project reporting more meaningful in project development and still keep senior executives satisfied. There are many tools available, but what do we consider the most essential and how do we ensure accurate information is communicated.

Posted: Jul 5, 2018 10:06 AM

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Mary Jane Monsivais Austin, Tx, United States

Jul 05, 2018 5:39 PM

Replying to David Cook

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Thanks PMs, I do agree we need to understand what executives want, but truely half the time they do not know what they want and we have to intreprete what we need to share. And so often the tools are so complicated they dont bother to read them. We do need simple way of telling how a project is doing and what are the simple measures of indicators of sickness. much like quick phiciacl and then a blood test. Too often time and cost looks good for the first 3/4 of the project.What in your experience is those key variables that tell you the real picture? And I know is varies.

If available, reviewing Corporate Strategic Goals, Organizational Objectives, and other Project measures/KPIs for similar Projects that are tracked & utilized by management may be insightful.

Open-door sessions with the next level of leadership may also provide answers. The intent of the open-door is to understand leadership communication preferences & needs. This will benefit not only the Project, but management's ability to communicate the project's success or needs with their leadership.

Posted: Jul 6, 2018 8:52 AM

Joshua Render Product Owner| Cognizant Harrisville, Ny, United States

Use lots of meaningful pictures and graphs and fewer words. Not that anyone is stupid, but when it comes to some subjects you have to assume people are stupid about that subject. Some words and phrases become so ingrained in our speech that we fail to recognize that others may not know what it means. You have to try to put things in terms they can understand, and a graph or picture can often be a nearly universal language.

I once was preparing a report regarding the state of a graphical user interface, a manager kept asking me what I was talking about in it. I finally clued in that she didn't understand what a graphical user interface was. I changed my wording to say the "user interaction screen" and included a picture of the current state of the GUI - she understood that.

I've tried including definitions of terms, but no one ever reads those.

Posted: Jul 6, 2018 9:34 AM

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Death by Reporting.

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