Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
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The best way is not to be concerned about maintaining the status, this always amounts to looking back, being on the defensive, trying to find excuses and guilty people.
The best way is to look ahead, like risk identification, plan adaption, anticipation, seeing opportunities, instilling trust and confidence into stakeholders.
Matter of mindset, and we can influence it.
Thomas Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
The "best" way (or something that will work for me independently of the domain where I will work) is all people inside the project team record all related to the status or progress or as you call it directly. No need for making meetings or something like that. Saving Changes...
Vladimir LiberzonR&D Director| Spider Project TeamMoscow, Russian Federation
Thomas reply is perfect! I can add that the tool that we use for understanding the right project status is current probability to meet project goals. More than that - we look at the trends of probabilities to meet project targets. If these trends are negative corrective actions must be considered even if project status is fine.
If your project is 10 days ahead of baseline but one month ago it was 25 days ahead of baseline and two months ago 40 days ahead of baseline corrective actions must be considered because there is a problem with project execution. Saving Changes...
Best is context-specific - it depends on the project, the governance standards which apply, stakeholder wants and needs and many other factors.
The main thing to remember is project management is a proactive approach, not a reactive one. We are not reporters - just reporting the status of a project. We need to understand not just what the current state is, but where we should be, and the implications of any variances so that we can take corrective action in a timely manner.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Peter RapinSubject Matter Expect; Project Delivery| Independent ConsultantOntario, Canada
Maybe I don't understand the question. Our job as project managers is not to maintain status but to keep advancing towards the successful completion of the project - keep moving, keep improving, keep maximizing benefits, keep mitigating risks. Maintaining status is an operational manager's role possibly although one could argue although there's an obligation to improve output in that role as well.
Maybe you are referring to monitoring, recording and reporting project status. Different question. Earlier responses have addressed this concern. However, as a project manager your drive should be focused on progress moreso than being bogged down in the past. Saving Changes...
Muhammad AltafProgram / Project Manager| IBMAbu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
If you mean to maintain the "formal written status reports/presentations", then you'll need to arrange timely meetings with key project resources to gather the information and add it to the report.
However, as a project manager, if you aren't aware of status of the project activities on frequent basis, then that is a big risk in itself. You don't need to micromanage, but you need to have enough interactions with the team to be aware of status of different activities and plans for upcoming tasks.
daily stand-ups, are usually a good start. This can help you pick up warnings/red-flags that you can validate by follow up discussions with relevant team members/stake-holders. Saving Changes...
Michael HilbertDirector of Project Management| TuWay CommunicationsBethlehem, Pa, United States
Agree with others, look forward, know what needs to come next and make sure the team is aligned for taking the next step. Saving Changes...
Monitoring & Controlling Process Group! it is the Magic. Monitoring your project status through necessary reports and tracking sheets ; and controlling by change requests.
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1 reply by Peter Rapin
Feb 17, 2022 10:48 AM
Peter Rapin
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Seems like project-management-art is your answer to most queries. Who, or what, is project-management-art? They do not identify themselves on the web site - lots of pretty pictures and graphs.
Saving Changes...
Peter RapinSubject Matter Expect; Project Delivery| Independent ConsultantOntario, Canada
Feb 17, 2022 7:58 AM
Replying to Amr Abd El Azim
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Monitoring & Controlling Process Group! it is the Magic. Monitoring your project status through necessary reports and tracking sheets ; and controlling by change requests.
Seems like project-management-art is your answer to most queries. Who, or what, is project-management-art? They do not identify themselves on the web site - lots of pretty pictures and graphs. Saving Changes...
Anton OosthuizenSenior Business Analyst / Project Manager| Self EmployedPretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
The 'best' way is the way that works for your stakeholders. How I communicate project status to my stakeholders could be completely different from how you would do it because your stakeholders have different requirements than mine and your project structure might be completely different from mine. So there is no real 'best' but only best practice and best practice dictates that you do whatever is required to satisfy the requirements for efficient communication. Saving Changes...
