Progress Reports important in Project Management
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1. Why are progress reports an integral part of project communications? What should they include? How are they different from a final report? How and why do they improve a project?
2. Provide your thoughts on what the purpose of a problem solving meeting is and how would one be conducted?
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Solution Summary
The progress report is a critical tool for any PM because it allows the PM to quickly understand what the status of all the different project components are with respect to timeline and often, with respect to the budget. The other benefit of progress reports is that it is a public document which functions almost as a public commitment by the PM and the project team members to achieve a certain status within a given time frame.
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The progress report in a project management setting is absolutely critical.
Think about the nature of project management in business today. This is essentially an environment where the project manager is COMPLETELY dependent on the professionalism, commitment and good will of others to work towards a single goal. The Project Manager (PM) often does not have hierarchical or even dotted-line authority over the project team members, but somehow must use soft influencing skills in a variety of methods and situations in order to keep the project on track, on time and within budget. These days, a PM may be located in one state, with team members located in different offices all over the country, the project may utilize off shore resources in foreign countries, with the executive project sponsor who holds the purse strings located in another state/country. Given the nature of business today, it is not always feasible or possible to ask all project team members to be physically present in one location, all sitting at the same table in order to update the project team on their status. Thus, the progress report is a critical tool for any PM because it allows the PM to quickly understand what the status of all the different project components are with respect to timeline and often, with respect to the budget. The other benefit of progress reports is that it is a public document which functions almost as a public and credible commitment by the PM and the project team members to achieve a certain status within a given time frame.
Assume I am a project team member responsible for completing the production build for the IT environment and I was supposed to have the production environment completed and ready for testing/validation by a certain date, but in fact, I have been lazy and I am now 5 business days past my deadline and I am forced to report that I am 5 business days BEHIND schedule. Since IT is always a major component of almost every project, this status update is ...
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