Progress Report

Focus/Purpose

Based on your audience and purpose, make sure that you have only included information that is important to your readers. Extraneous information will simply waste their time.

Have you introduced your report, stating your purpose?

• • State your purpose for writing the report.
  • Indicate if it is a routine report and state its number (e.g., second weekly report).
  • Provide the name or id of the project.
  • Summarize key information about the project.
  • Make a concise summary statement of progress.
  • Evaluate each point you include in reference to the project as a whole.
    • Consider how information ‘paints’ a picture of the overall project.
    • De-emphasize menial tasks that are on schedule or inconsequential to the project.
    • Take out details are only peripherally related to the project reported on.
    • Do not include progress updates on other projects within the report unless specifically requested.
  • Omit details that do not help your reader understand your status or on-going plans.
    • Avoid including every minor decision or task that goes into the plan. It will bog down your reader and the decision-making process.
    • Do not include hypotheticals or potential future points of conflict. They may confuse or alarm your reader unnecessarily.
    • Avoid providing too much technical detail. Focus on quantifiable or actionable information.
  • Remove well-known or obvious details unless you have a particular reason for including them.
    • Leave out details such as We had to go to the hardware store to get more nails and similarly inane tasks.
    • Include these only if they created a measurable impediment to progress or significantly altered the project scope, schedule, budget, or dependencies.

Does each piece of information you include give the reader a sense of the project as a whole?

• • Focus on major tasks, milestones, and deliverables that give the reader a sense of ‘where you are.’
  • Make sure it is clear how lesser tasks that you include fit into the big picture.
  • De-emphasize menial tasks that are on schedule or less consequential to the project overall.
  • Take out details that are only peripherally related to the project reported on.

Have you included any irrelevant details that do not help your reader understand your progress and status?

• • Avoid including every minor decision or task. It may seem like you have more accomplished but will likely just bog down your reader.
  • Do not include hypotheticals or potential future points of conflict, unless you have very good reason.
  • Remove obvious and inane details, unless they created a measurable impediment or significantly altered the project scope.

Development/Elaboration

Every progress report should have a(n):

Brief introduction

• • • State your purpose for writing the report.
    • Indicate if it is a routine report, and state its number (e.g., second weekly report).
    • Provide the name or id of the project.
    • Summarize or recap key information about the project:
      • Start date
      • Key agreements
      • Estimated finish
      • Progress or issues reported in the last report
    • Make a concise summary statement of progress.

Body that details progress

• • Provide specific details about costs, materials, personnel, and time for each part of the project.
  • Focus on completed tasks and measurable progress.
  • Include meaningful figures and other concrete measures whenever possible.
  • Briefly explain the significance of the figures included.
    • For instance, offer an analysis of actual cost to date against projected costs, or indicate percentage completed of each element in progress.
  • Explain blockers or impediments you have encountered since the last progress report.
    • Indicate potential trouble spots as soon as they appear.
    • Note how they will or have affected progress.
    • Provide possible solutions, workarounds, or ways to catch up, if available.

Informative conclusion

• • Specify the new timetable, if it has changed.
  • Indicate what tasks are in progress or are scheduled to start before the next progress report.
  • Make sure expectations for the project are realistic—reiterate the completion date and note any dependencies.
  • Recap any outstanding questions or issues that the reader should answer or be aware of.
  • Make any recommendations that should be considered before the next check-in.
  • If writing to a customer, thank them for their business.

Do you provide relevant, tangible details to back up your progress?

• • Provide specific details about costs, materials, personnel, and time for each part of the project.
  • Focus on completed tasks and measurable progress.
  • Refer to figures and other concrete measurables whenever possible.
  • Explain the significance of the details and figures included to the project as a whole.

Have you identified any new blockers or impediments that your reader should be aware of?

• • Explain major challenges and setbacks you have encountered since the last progress report.
  • Indicate potential trouble spots as soon as they appear.
  • Note how they will or have affected progress.
  • Provide possible solutions, workarounds, or ways to catch up, if available.

Do you sum up your upcoming tasks and goals and recap outstanding issues in your conclusion?

• • Specify the new timetable if it has changed.
  • Indicate what tasks will be in progress until the next progress report.
  • Recap any outstanding questions or issues that the reader should answer or be aware of.

Organization

Within these general sections, divide and organize information so it fits your project and communicates itself easily.

• • Group information based on topic, relevance, or purpose.
    • Identify what information is important to your readers: what questions would they ask?
    • Arrange information based on these questions or the pieces of information you think are important.
    • Organize information by the part of the project it relates to (market research, analytics, sales), the reason you are conveying it (update, problem, solution, etc.), or its relationship to the project (cost, time, materials, etc.).
  • Divide the report into paragraphs based on these groups.

Unlike in formal writing, these paragraphs are purely functional. It is okay if they are short, even if they are only one sentence long.

• • Make sure each paragraph has a single cohesive point.
  • Place important information at the beginning and ends of paragraphs where it is more likely to be seen during skimming.

• • Use headings to identify the topic or purpose of each section.
    • Choose functional heading names.
    • Name sections descriptively so that the reader knows the point of each section from its heading.
    • Format headings in a bold, all capital, or slightly larger font so they stand out.

Have you organized your information into paragraphs based on topic, relevance, or purpose?

• • Organize information into paragraphs by the part of the project it relates to, the reason you are conveying it, or its relationship to the project.
  • Make sure each paragraph has a single cohesive point. Paragraphs do not need to be long to be functional.
  • Place important information at the beginning and ends of paragraphs, to introduce and conclude each topic.

Have you used headings to identify the topic or purpose of each section of your report to enhance readability?

• • Divide your report into sections.
    • Give each section a functional heading.
    • Name sections descriptively so that the reader knows the point of each section from its heading.
  • Format headings in a bold, all capital, or slightly larger font so they stand out.

Language/Style

Progress reports can be very technical documents or simple brief overviews. The style of your progress report will depend primarily on your audience’s familiarity with the project, their knowledge of the field, and your relationship to them.

• • Write at a level that your readers will understand.
    • Consider both your readers’ technical knowledge and familiarity with the project.
    • Define technical terms and components the first time they are used, and be prepared to clarify their meaning again later.
    • Use universal terms whenever possible to avoid confusion.
  • Explain technical terms and procedures or simply focus on their outcomes.

When reporting on your progress, you may find it natural to mention the technical components and procedures you are working on. Your reader may not understand the importance of what you are discussing.

• • Focus on what the reader wants or needs to know.
  • Concisely explain what technical components are, if it is necessary the reader know them.
  • Explain components in terms of their benefits or outcomes—the effects that matter to the reader.
  • Include graphics, illustrations, and charts where necessary to clarify your report.

Do you know your audience’s needs and technical proficiency?

• • Write for your audience—their concerns, priorities, and vocabulary.
  • Consider their purpose and the information they need to know in your report.
  • Think about the kind of language that is appropriate for your audience and that they will understand.
  • If writing to a customer, use appropriate greetings and remember to thank them in your closing.

Do you use an appropriately formal style and tone?

• • Use proper grammar, spelling, and mechanics in all written reports.
  • Avoid slang and casual language.
  • Convey a positive, sincere tone.
  • Avoid allowing sarcasm or frustration into your progress report. Be honest and realistic.