Writing Progress and Status Reports
A progress report describes an ongoing project. A status report, sometimes called an activity report, describes the entire range of operations of a department or division. For example, the director of marketing for a manufacturing company might submit a monthly status report.
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A progress report is an intermediate communication between a proposal (the argument that a project be undertaken) and a completion report (the comprehensive record of a completed project) or a recommendation report (an argument to take further action). Progress reports let you check in with your audience.
Regardless of how well the project is proceeding, explain clearly and fully what has happened and how those activities or events will affect the overall project. Your tone should be objective, neither defensive nor casual. Unless your own ineptitude or negligence caused a problem, you’re not to blame. Regardless of the news you are delivering—good, bad, or mixed—your job is the same: to provide a clear and complete account of your activities and to forecast the next stage of the project.
For more about proposals, see Ch. 11. For more about recommendation reports, see Ch. 13.
When things go wrong, you might be tempted to cover up problems and hope that you can solve them before the next progress report. This course of action is unwise and unethical. Chances are that problems will multiply, and you will have a harder time explaining why you didn’t alert your readers earlier.
ETHICS NOTE
REPORTING YOUR PROGRESS HONESTLY
Withholding bad news is unethical because it can mislead readers. As sponsors or supervisors of the project, readers have a right to know how it is going. If you find yourself faced with any of the following three common problems, consider responding in these ways:
The deliverable—the document or product you will submit at the end of the project—won’t be what you thought it would be. Without being defensive, describe the events that led to the situation and explain how the deliverable will differ from what you described in the proposal.
You won’t meet your schedule. Explain why you are going to be late, and state when the project will be complete.
You won’t meet the budget. Explain why you need more money, and state how much more you will need.
ORGANIZING PROGRESS AND STATUS REPORTS
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The time pattern and the task pattern, two organizational patterns frequently used in progress and status reports, are illustrated in Figure 12.3. A status report is usually organized according to task; by its nature, this type of report covers a specified time period.
In the time pattern, you describe all the work that you have completed in the present reporting period and then sketch in the work that remains. Some writers include a section on present work, which enables them to focus on a long or complex task still in progress.
The task pattern enables you to describe, in order, what has been accomplished on each task. Often a task-oriented structure incorporates the chronological structure.
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CONCLUDING PROGRESS AND STATUS REPORTS
In the conclusion of a progress or status report, evaluate how the project is proceeding. In the broadest sense, there are two possible messages: things are going well, or things are not going as well as anticipated.
If appropriate, use appendixes for supporting materials, such as computations, printouts, schematics, diagrams, tables, or a revised task schedule. Be sure to cross-reference these appendixes in the body of the report, so that readers can find them easily.
Projecting an Appropriate Tone in a Progress or Status Report
Whether the news is positive or negative, these two suggestions will help you sound like a professional.
If the news is good, convey your optimism but avoid overstatement.
OVERSTATED We are sure the device will do all that we ask of it, and more. REALISTIC We expect that the device will perform well and that, in addition, it might offer some unanticipated advantages. Beware of promising early completion. Such optimistic forecasts rarely prove accurate, and it is embarrassing to have to report a failure to meet an optimistic deadline.
Don’t panic if the preliminary results are not as promising as you had planned or if the project is behind schedule. Even the best-prepared proposal writers cannot anticipate all problems. As long as the original proposal was well planned and contained no wildly inaccurate computations, don’t feel responsible. Just do your best to explain unanticipated problems and the status of the project. If your news is bad, at least give the reader as much time as possible to deal with it effectively.