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WHY WE COMMUNICATE 347

The project team should designate someone to facilitate the dissemination of
progress information and the retrieval of progress data from the participants. This
individual(s) shall review all progress data and check it for validity. Communica-
tion, at this point, is more in the nature of mentoring and providing assistance to
participants so that they understand what kind of progress reporting is needed
and expected.

Report Project Status

This is an area where a little creative thinking can produce very productive results.
We need to discard the old approach, wherein we produced voluminous pages of
insipid data, which was distributed to all involved parties. This generally led to the
reports accumulating dust in a far corner of the office, or taking up valuable space
on the hard drive. It was usually too much data and not enough information.

First of all, the capability exists to customize project status reports so that each
participant receives information that is tailored to his or her specific need. The data
may be detailed or summarized, depending on need. The data can be selective, pro-
viding detail over a narrow band, or at a higher level of detail for a wider span of in-
terest. Data can be restricted to a particular area, such as schedule, cost, or resource
utilization. It can focus on accomplishments, performance, and problems.

The key to success in this communication area is to consider each targeted re-
cipient, individually. If we can determine what each person is going to do with the
information, we can tailor the reports to serve that purpose. We need to consider
what type of decisions are to be made on the basis of the information, and design
the communication to provide what is needed, in the format that is needed, and
in the detail that is needed.

Trap There is a tendency to employ a one-size-fits-all philos-
ophy when designing input screens and reporting formats.
This will encourage resistance to support of the system by the
target users, and cannot be justified in light of the capabilities
of today’s PM tools.

We need to provide more than just data, but real information about the signif-
icance of the data. Where corrective action is indicated, we should (where feasi-
ble) provide information about effect and alternatives.

The Project Progress Reporting function will also serve to support the
following: