How to Prepare Executive Status Reports - Part 2 of 2

In this second podcast of the series, Ricardo gives some tips on how to prepare an excellent status report. He explains that the great secret of the report is the ability to condense informations into a small and precise report, which usually can be 6 to 10 pages, trying to present visual data, colors, larger letters and graphics with performance information.

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Episode transcript

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Hello everybody welcome. You come to the five minutes PM. Podcast Today like to continue with the Podcast about Executive Status report. And now I'd like to give you some tips about how to build and how to prepare and excellent Status report. As I said to you, the secret and the challenge for us is not to write 10 pages, but just to summarize what is really, really relevant as I sat also last week, it's extremely Portland.

The way we write the visual content, the way we produce the graphics and the color and everything, this will help us to understand and provide a better decision for our executives to report. So what is really important for me, usually I split my report in six topics in six pages. This is not a rule. This is only my personal opinion. So if you want to split in 10 or so, let me give you some insights of what I do so I can help you to understand and prepare your own.

The first page, what I put, I put visual indicators, indicators. Well, usually I put overall, and then I split time cost quality risk. Sometimes I divide this, I split this to the nine knowledge areas, have the PMBOK, so I can change this from client to client, but what is really, really important, I use this in a visual way. So green, yellow, red, and black or green.

Good. I'm okay. I don't need to work with that yellow I'm I'm OK. But almost in trouble rant. I'm in trouble and black. I'm in deep trouble. And this is usually I calculate using a simple mathematics, cause I don't use too much complex calculation, but that use case a simple mathematics like duration, the duration of the baseline and the duration, the forecast duration. And then I divided a one by the Otter.

If it's one I'm sharply on time, if it lasts them one I'm okay. I still have some buffer some time, the fine above one, Dan I'm in the trouble. So what I usually do, it depends off each company, but usually we do something like 0.9, five it's green from point a nine, five to one it's yellow from one to one Oh five, it's read a book one Oh five minutes or a bowl of 5% of the ley, then it's back.

But of course this is only I'm giving you only in an example. And this I do for the cost and a very visual. So I put like a panel with a circles with the collar. So it's easy to C in the second page. I like very much, as I said, the economists, the magazine, the economy. So in one thing that I do, I use exactly the same idea they have just in the beginning of the magazine, they have the word this week and the word this week at the economist, they have one paragraph, maybe one or two sentences about something that happens last week.

And I do the same or something like the project this week, the pro's that this month, it depends have the timeframe that I Prepare. If I Prepare once a month, then the pros that this month. And then I Prepare something like 10 to 15 sentences about the product. Good things, bad things. But sentences coughing. If I need to say 15 or 10 things about my project, what should I say?

So Oh, we have a problem in this part of the project that delay it. One week we hire the, a company to fix that problem. The company is X, Y, and Z, and next paragraph. It's something different. We have problems with the kitchen. So all employees do inside the product. Didn't have food last week, not next paragraph. So it's very easy and sharp. And I put in bold some sentences, exactly like the magazine, the turd topic, it's the milestone chart or milestone trend analysis.

I use one page with something around eight to 12 milestones, and I put them on a timeframe or I do the MTA, the milestones trend analysis. I we'll not talk about the MTA today, but it's a very interesting if we want to check the web, that we will find a nice things about it. So I use one page does, will show how the project is regarding scuttle. The fourth page, I do a cost report, one page, not 10 page, but the one page cost report where I show the most expensive things that I'm doing, the challenge that I have in a very visual.

So I can do a, an ask or, or I can do a table with numbers, something very visual. We've not too much. numbers' if they want to have the numbers, you bring them a 100 page report about costs, but this is not or intend today. Our intent is Prepare in the executive report. The fifth topic is the risk. I put one page mapping, all the risks I saw, I use impact and probability in a map them.

And then I put in the bottom part of the paper, I put the risks that I need to worry more in the lower part. So it's only two show what happened with wrists from last month to this month and last but not least decision points. What is, this is the decision thinks that I'm as a project manager, lent to listen from them one to have them helping me to decide. So the decision point and in topics that you want to address in this that you want to discuss that wait for the next report.

So I put this as decision points. So very sharp, look, six, seven on eight pages. That's all sharp, crisp, an effective, and be prepared with all background information to support as requested if they request, but you don't need to provide them only because you think that six pages is not enough. Remember the quality of the Executive stats report R on the sharpness of this information and not based it on the amount of information.

I hope you enjoy at this. Podcast sorry for the long Podcast and see you next week with another five minutes PM. Podcast bye. Bye.

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