Creating Monthly Status Reports

Summary

• background / objectives
• rules for creating
• not required? what's the point?
• alternatives

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Background / Objectives

At the end of each month, I create a Monthly Status Report (MSR). It's an old habit,started back when I worked at Adams Elevator Equipment. My supervisor at Searle Pharmaceuticalsrequested these as well, so I just kept it up. Now, working at Culligan International,I am not required to keep submitting at the end of the month, but I've kept up thehabit. Many organizations require MSRs, and they don't necessarily have to be an administrativeburden or pointless paperwork. The objective is to summarize your accomplishments- but not to act as a detailed diary. You are trying to quickly and effectively communicate:

• What am I spending time on?
• Why am I spending time on this (and not something else)?
• Why should you, the reader, know/care that I'm working on this?
• How might you, the reader, benefit from knowing that I'm working on this?

It's important to understand your target audience - typically your direct supervisor- and why they need the information. If they are asking you for a report, they areprobably required to create one of their own, including the accomplishments of theirgroup. So, an excellent MSR will be brief, focused on accomplishments, and in a formatthat anyone who needs to can easily manipulate for their own requirements (pictureyour supervisor cutting and pasting text from multiple emails, documents, etc. intotheir own master report ...)

Creating an effective report

If you approach it correctly, this does not have to become a dreaded effort everyfew weeks...

1. Take notes in a scratch pad somewhere throughout the month. It's too easy to forget some relevant details, even big chunks of stuff, when it happened a week or so ago. Consider taking 5 minutes each morning and recapping key events of the preceding day; it doesn't have to be perfect prose, just some idea threads that can be woven into a cohesive report at the end of the month.
2. Timeliness is critical. Make sure the report is completed before you get into the projects / details of the new month. Target the last few days of the month, so it's ready to post/print/email on the last day.
3. Watch your level of detail -- this is supposed to be a summary, not a diary. I like to keep each monthly report to a single sheet of paper. Submit by email? Then print it out like a memo, and make sure it fits on a single sheet.
4. When writing the report entries, check your tense. Past tense (planned, not planning) is best, you're focusing on what got done, not what is going on.
5. Don't forget to call out the business benefit of each item - communicate relevant information!

That last one is probably the most important thing to keep in mind; remember yourobjective(s)! Generally speaking, a non-trivial percentage of your audience is goingto be the business-oriented reader, and you're putting yourself on display with thisdocument - this is a terrific opportunity to demonstrate your ability to effectivelycommunicate relevant information.

So why invest the time now?

Yes, my current manager does not require monthly reports, but I knew from the beginningthat I'd maintain the habit. Note that these are also good reasons to remain enthusiasticabout creating effective reports when they are required ...

• It constantly focuses your attention on why you are doing things. If there is not enough time in the day to get everything done, effective prioritization means focusing on the activities that bring the most business value.
• It casts light on projects / work efforts that seem to go on for weeks and months, and helps drive the sense that some things may be taking too long and need to get resolved.
• You'll also be able to quantitatively judge how much work your getting done - much like a nicely updated resume, it keeps your self-confidence at the right level.
• It makes it easier to keep your resume up-to-date; as necessary, you'll have pages of well-written, business-focused descriptions at just the right level of detail.

Thoughts on Alternatives

The steady advance of collaborative technologies suggests some pretty interesting alternatives to the classic formats of Word documents, emails, and printed sheets. For example, web-based forums, blogs, and/or wiki's might be implemented, to streamline some of the document manipulation mechanics. I've seen Lotus Notes collaboration spaces set up that accomplished the same thing. A critical thing to keep in mind will be the lowest-comment technology denominator, and the input and output fronts. All contributors must be able to work in the environment effectively, and the ultimate "consumers" of the information - upper management - must have convenient access. In some organizations, that may drive the use of Office documents or eMail to gather and store the information.