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How to Give a Good Status Reportby Ben on November 2, 2011 edit

If you have a manager at work – and let’s f ace it, most of us do – you’ll mostlikely need to provide them with updates on the work that you’re doing. Whetherit ’s assigned to you by them, or f rom someone else f rom another team orproject, you’ll get asked on the status of your work. Giving an ef f ective statusreport is something that is underrated in the IT workplace, and if done well, yourmanager will appreciate it.

Be Honest

The best thing you can do when giving a status report or status update on yourwork is to be honest. It ’s f ar better to tell your manager that you’re behind in your work, or you didn’t get itdone, than to be dishonest and try to cover it up by saying it ’s on track or everything’s OK. You’ll get caughtout eventually if you try to cover it up or make it better than it is. If you’re honest with the progress, thenwhat’s the worst that can happen? Your manager may get upset or disappointed, but if they’re a half decentmanager they will work out how to f ix it or get back on track!

Being honest about the progress also includes estimating the ef f ort and work involved. An article on theability to under promise and over deliver provides some tips on one way to do this. Additionally, if you’re ontrack so f ar but think it will take more time than you f irst through, mention this now. It ’s better to know earlywhen you can all still do something about it, than when the task is actually due and it ’s too late to change.

Don’t Give Too Much Unneeded Detail

If your boss walks past you and asks, “How’s that module testing coming along?”, don’t respondimmediately with a f ive minute spiel on how dif f icult it has been and what you’ve done to overcome aparticular problem you’ve had. Answer them with a level of detail that’s equivalent to the way they askedyou. In this case, if it ’s a quick question as they walk past, a relatively short answer can be given. Somethinglike, “It ’s coming along well, it was almost f alling behind but I worked something out and now it ’s back ontrack f or Friday”. The message they receive f rom that, is it ’s all OK and a minor issue has been f ound andresolved. If they want to know more inf ormation, like how much is lef t to do, what the issue is, or if there’sanother chance of delay, they can ask f or more inf ormation.

Alternatively, if your manager asks f or a written report on the progress of your development work f or laterin the day, it ’s saf e to assume they want more than a quick answer to this. It ’s still good to include asummary, similar to the above point. Actually, it ’s good to start with this. Then, you can move into f urtherdetail if needed and highlight any problems or risks that you might be f acing.

Answer Their Questions

Bef ore you provide the status update, think about the question they’re asking. Try to answer it as best asyou can. You don’t want them to respond with “That’s good, but you haven’t answered my question”. If theyask something like “That testing you’re doing – do you think getting another person to help will get it donequicker?”, make sure you answer their question. Answering with “It ’s going well, it should be done by Friday”,will indicate how it ’s going to them, but it won’t answer their question – will adding another person get itdone quicker? Bef ore you f inish talking or responding, make sure you’ve answered their question.

Use the Same Medium

Using the same medium essentially means providing an update to your work using the same method thathas been requested of you. There are many dif f erent ways to ask someone the progress of their work:

Ask them at their desk

Call them on the phone

Send them an email f or an inf ormal response

Ask f or a f ormal report

Ask them in a meeting

If someone asks you using a certain method, it ’s usually because they want the status report delivered thesame way. Unless, of course, they explicit ly say so. If you get an email asking f or an update on the statusof your development work, don’t walk to their desk and tell them, don’t call them and let them know – replyto their email with your response. Likewise, if they call you and ask f or an update, let them know over thephone. Same with other communication methods.

The exception to this is if they ask f or a specif ic way to be inf ormed. Your manager could call you and askyou to email an update to them – in this case, send the email. Your manager could email you and ask you togive a status update in your upcoming meeting. In this case – you guessed it – leave it to the meeting.

The reason f or this is to be consistent with your communication, and to be seen as someone who can andknows how to give good status reports. It ’s also seen to be considerate of requests by others – allvaluable things to know in the IT industry!

Be Proactive If Possible

If you’ve been given work to do by someone, it can be a good idea to let them know how it ’s going bef orethey ask – being proactive about your task. This doesn’t necessarily mean giving them updates every dayabout it. It probably applies to cases where you’ve reached a milestone or a problem with the work.

If you’ve just reached a milestone or a main point of your work, it can be a good time to let your managerknow. If you’ve reached a delay or problem with your work, it ’s a good time to let them know. If you have asuggestion or a question about the work, let them know. It ’s good to get in f irst and let your manager know,bef ore they ask f or your status update. This can save time and make the work easier!

Well, there are a f ew tips on how you can give better status reports and progress updates f or your work –to your manager, to other teams or other people. Do you have any other t ips? Post your comments below!

For more IT career t ips and inf ormation on how YOU can improve YOUR IT career, visit Complete ITProf essional!

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