How To Create a Project Status Report
A good Project Status Report is clear, concise, and will quickly update your team on the health and progress of your project.
Why do I need a Project Status Report?
All members of your company or team — especially executives and stakeholders — want to know if your project is making progress.
For the sake of clarity, it is best to use a standard template for all status updates that will quickly summarize the current state of the project. Your team will get used to the structure of these updates, and you can spend more time focusing on the content of the report, and less time trying to decipher its structure and design.
Every project will have different requirements when it comes to status reporting. However, most good templates capture the following key pieces of information every executive will want to hear about: the project’s status, accomplishments, critical issues, and next steps.
How to use Stormboard’s Project Status Report Template
Stormboard’s Project Status Report Template is divided into the four key sections mentioned above, titled: Overall Status, Accomplishments, Critical Issues, and Next Steps.
In order to keep your content clearly organized, you can color-code your sticky notes to reflect the status of each item in your report. Using a stoplight color scheme (green, yellow, and red), designate green sticky notes for items that are currently on track to be finished on schedule (or within plan), yellow for stalled or delayed items (somewhat out of plan), and red for items that have been deleted or are significantly behind schedule (way out of plan).
Section 1: Overall Status
Your overall status section should be brief — just a few sticky notes covering the general areas of where you are in the project’s development. The goal here is to give your readers, who may not have time to read the entire report, a quick rundown of the most important elements.
What have been the major developments in your project since the last status report?
How have the major elements like budget, staffing, and schedule been affected since the last report?
What is the overall health of this project?
Focus on broad concepts — you will have time later in the report to go into specifics. Refer back to the status of your last report to see what may have changed. Your priority should be to summarize what people need to know about this project in as few words as possible.
Section 2: Accomplishments
Use this section to highlight the progress, or major milestones, your project has made since your last report. You can speak generally to the accomplishments of your team, or you can highlight individuals who have made significant contributions to the project’s success.
What has been accomplished since the last Project Status Report?
Who is responsible?
How will these accomplishments help push your project towards success?
Taking the time to directly praise an employee’s accomplishment or individual progress is a great way to improve team morale. You can highlight progress your team has made as a group, helping build momentum and keeping everyone focused on their goals and objectives.
Section 3: Critical Issues
All projects run into roadblocks. Keeping stakeholders in the loop when issues arise will help everyone adjust accordingly in order to stay on track.
What roadblocks exist that may obstruct — or are currently obstructing — your project’s progress?
What issues exist in your project that will need to be addressed immediately or in the near future?
Are there any issues from previous reports that still need to be addressed?
Critical issues can be both current and future impediments to your project. Identify potential issues early so your team can be ready if and when they occur. Review the critical issues from previous reports to see if they have changed. Use the same color-coding method above to triage the severity of these issues.
Section 4: Next Steps
Outline where you expect your project to go in the immediate future, and which steps you will be taking with your team to get there.
What are the next steps in your project?
What effect will they have on the work already done?
How will these steps get you closer to the goals of this project?
Review previous reports to see if any changes need to be made to the Next Steps section of this report. If you plan to use and update the same Project Status Report for the lifecycle of your project, review your Next Steps section each time. It may be easy for a step to get overlooked as your project develops.
Conclusion
Your Project Status Report will grow with your project and will need to be updated often to ensure that the best, most up-to-date information is included.
Typically, reports are issued monthly, but some companies prefer bi-weekly updates, while others only issue status reports at the end of each quarter. Find the schedule that works best for you and your stakeholders and stick to it. Treating your status reports as part of your team’s routine will help you stay on track.
Try the Project Status Report out with your team! Check out our 30-day FREE trial options here.
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