122 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
122 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
# Status Reporting
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Duration: 30--40 minutes
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## Definition
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**Status reporting** communicates the minimum information stakeholders
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need to understand current project state, expected delivery, major
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changes, and required decisions.
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A status report is not a diary of everything the team did.
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## Simple Mental Model
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> **Where are we? What is next? What threatens it? What do you need from
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> me?**
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## How It Works
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A lightweight update can contain:
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``` text
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Health:
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Outcome:
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Next milestone:
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Target:
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What changed:
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Top risk/blocker:
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Decision/help needed:
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```
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Different audiences need different depth:
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- Project team: detailed execution
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- You: milestones, risks, scope, forecast, blockers
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- VP/executive: outcome, health, consequence, decision required
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Report meaningful changes, not noise.
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Weak:
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> Waiting on Security.
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Better:
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> Security review is outstanding. If not completed by Aug 15, production
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> validation will move by at least one week.
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## Example
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Weak update:
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> We completed seven tickets and development is progressing.
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Better:
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> **Yellow.** Implementation is complete. Production validation is
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> targeted for Aug 20. The DevOps environment is four days late, leaving
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> insufficient QA time. We need delivery by Aug 16 to preserve the
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> target.
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## How It Fits Into the Bigger Picture
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\[\[Project Health\]\] tells you whether attention is required. Status
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reporting explains why, what changed, and what action is needed.
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## My Company / Real-World Context
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You communicate across Product, IT, vendors, and upper management.
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Translate technical events into delivery consequences.
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Instead of "the sync API returns errors," say what that means for the
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milestone and outcome.
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## CTO Perspective
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Bad news reported early is manageable. Bad news discovered late damages
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confidence.
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The goal is not to make every project look Green. It is to make
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leadership confident that you know what is happening and are managing
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it.
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### Questions to Ask
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- What changed?
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- What is the health?
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- What is the next milestone?
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- Is the forecast credible?
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- What is the main risk/blocker?
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- What is the consequence?
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- What decision/help is required?
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## Meeting Scenario
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**Situation:** Your VP asks for an update on a project with a vendor
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blocker.
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**Possible response:**
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> The project is Yellow. Development is complete, but vendor validation
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> is blocking Friday's production milestone. The vendor committed to a
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> fix tomorrow. If that slips, launch moves approximately one week. No
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> executive action is needed yet; I'll escalate if tomorrow's commitment
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> is missed.
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## Key Takeaways
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- Report delivery, not activity.
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- Tailor detail to the audience.
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- Lead with health and outcome.
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- Explain consequences.
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- State decisions/help required.
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- Early transparent reporting builds trust.
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## Related Concepts
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- \[\[Project Health\]\]
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- \[\[Milestones vs Tasks\]\]
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- \[\[Risk Management\]\]
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- \[\[Portfolio Management\]\]
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