Senior IS Project Manager| Baycare Health SystemsClearwater, Fl, United States
An issue log is a tool that Project Managers use to document and monitor the resolution of project issues. But not every project issue is the same, some are small with low risk to the project outcome that can be corrected very quickly to large issues that can could the project to miss critical milestone deliverables.
Do you have a standard approach as to how to communicate these issues? For example: All issues should be reviewed by the project team, and then a subset shared with the Steering Committee, and a smaller subset to executive leadership?
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Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Good topic. For me, the central issue is not the issue log itself, but the governance criteria behind how issues are communicated.
Not all issues should escalate for the same reason, nor to the same forum. A common mistake is to rely only on severity or immediate impact. What should really guide communication is the nature of the decision that is required.
A mature approach clearly distinguishes between:
Operational issues, resolved by the team,
Issues that require trade-offs between scope, schedule, or resources, discussed at steering level,
Issues that affect value, strategic priority, reputational risk, or business continuity, which belong at the executive leadership level.
The issue log is a transparency tool, not an automatic escalation mechanism. Escalating everything creates noise. Escalating too little creates surprise. The balance comes from explicit decision and accountability rules, not just hierarchical levels.
In short, communicating issues is not reporting. It is conscious governance. Saving Changes...
In the past, I've added issues to the RAID log when they were identified - often during project meetings. If they were identified outside of a meeting, I would add it to the log and then, if it needed further discussion during an upcoming meeting, would add it to the agenda. The issues would be escalated based on impact. Saving Changes...
Program Manager, PPM&PMO Specialist.| Coppel, Mexico.Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico
Michael King in my experience, the communication approach depends on two main factors: who can help resolve the issue and the potential impact on the project.
I usually review all issues with the project team first. If an issue requires a decision that is within the Steering Committee's authority, I present it to them immediately. Additionally, if an issue remains unresolved for too long and needs to be escalated for higher-level support, I move it up to executive leadership. I believe that showing the right issue to the right person at the right time is key to keeping the project moving.
I hope this perspective helps! Francisco Saving Changes...
I usually capture all the issues into a centralized issue log (for example - SharePoint, JIRA, Spreadsheet). Then include severity, and priority to each of the issues, an owner who will be responsible for the resolution or decision making and a target resolution date.
All the issues are first discussed with the project team. Based on their feedback only some issues which have higher severity/priority and higher business impact are presented to the Steering Committee for guidance. Finally only selected high severity business critical issues are discussed or escalated to the Leadership for decision making.
The few items in this category usually impact the milestone, scope, risk or market conditions.
These issues are monitored and the progress is reported regularly until they can be resolved or closed.
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
I am in linke with Srikana Ray comment. With actual collaboration tools you have the possibility to maintain risk and issues on line and to review them in process events or ceremonies. For example, if you are using Scrum framework, you can see them in daily ceremonies. In our case we are using Jira Align and our top management prople can take information on line to take decisions based on information like risks and issues. In fact you can create your own tool based on free of cost collaboration tools including it using low-code or no-code architecture. Saving Changes...
Product Operations Program ManagerBarcelona, Cataluña, Spain
I concur with the views and ways of working of Aaron Porter. An issue log is a living document and shall be monitored and updated on a regular basis. Saving Changes...
Program Manager| HARPER SRLSanto Domingo / Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic
I separate issues by who needs to decide, not just by severity. Team handles everything first. Trade-off decisions go to the steering committee. Issues affecting value or strategy go to executives. The issue log is for transparency, not automatic escalation. Clear decision rules keep noise and surprises under control. Saving Changes...
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