Status Reporting - Let's keep it simple!

Project status reports should be sent weekly or biweekly. These reports can be combined with "meeting minutes" but in this example, we are focusing on "status reports" only. Is it true that most customers don't have time to read status reports? Yes, I believe that's true. No, we should not skip writing them!

If a customer/client specifically requests that we don't write status reports, in that case we should communicate status verbally. 

Status reporting is important. We need to keep them brief and simple so that our customers can understand them quickly. As a project team, we also benefit from determining and communicating status.

Status Report for My Project:

Mention your project name and number in the report title.

Project Team and Stakeholders:

Start by listing names of people that are receiving the report(i.e. your managers, customers etc). Mention who the report is from (i.e. you and your team) and include a date.

Project health:

Summarize overall project health. Some people just use one word here such as "Fair","Good", "Excellent". If you prefer to get sophisticated, you could itemize it as follows.

Observations:

Briefly mention important things that you want to draw attention to such as risks or dependencies that you are working on or decisions that are pending. If you need someone's help, please mention their name here...

Completed this period:

List who completed what ... There is no need to write complete sentences. There is no need to provide a lot of details. You just need to mention the item and if needed point the reader to another source where more detail is available(i.e. you could mention emails, meeting minutes or websites).

Plans for next period: 

List who is scheduled to do what... Keep it brief (see #1 above) 

Investment:

"Investment" is a positive word to use instead of "budget"

If applicable, explain how much was spent and how much value was gained/earned (i.e. 50% of project budget was used and 80% of all Agile Stories or requirements were completed and tested)

If applicable, provide a projection on how much budget is needed in order to finish this project. It is also useful to mention how much cost you will incur mostly or weekly as you continue on this project.

If there are any major purchases coming up, it is good to list those here under the cost section. 

Here is how status reports typically relate to project management: