How we write weekly reports for clients

Hi, Habr!

Recently launched a new feature - weekly reports for clients. The bottom line is this: the project manager draws up a report letter every Monday describing the current situation of the project. And sends to the client. The peculiarity is that we have come up with a special form for the report. Now I will tell in order.

So, the structure of the letter. The first two lines are the most important for the client. The first is the current state of the project, the answer to the global question “Is everything OK?”. The second is the prediction: “Will everything be okay?”
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Next to each line we put a colored star. Green - no problems, yellow - there are problems, red - problems are critical.

Thus, it is enough for the client to look at the two asterisks at the beginning of the letter (without reading anything) and understand half a second how the project is. For example, the combination It means “everything is good on the project now, but it may become worse in the future.” And then comes a detailed structured report (with explanations why it could get worse).

Details are given in the following sequence:

• Timing, budget, release dates (project and separate stages) plans.
• Then follow the problems, ideas, risks, questions to the client.
• After celebrating the "informing" moments that may be useful to the client. For example, the launch of a competing service.

How to come to this?

Client's need to monitor the status of the project - always present. At first, we also sent text reports in a “free” form. Then we came to the conclusion that we ourselves would like to monitor the state of the project on a weekly basis by some indicators (important for us). They wrote this list:



Then they tried to give all this “visuality”, to simplify perception. Made a form with tinted areas (where green - everything is fine, where red - critical problems that require urgent solutions). The table itself became wildly incomprehensible, but we liked the idea of ​​flowers.



So the report appeared with color icons.

For the uniformity of the reports to them were made very specific requirements:

The report should be “read” from the first time:

• The “pyramid” structure of the report: first, the main thing, then the detailing
• Active use of pictograms and color symbols.
• No attachments! Only the letter itself! (On applications sometimes just do not pay attention)

Differentiation of indicators in the report into groups:

• Paramount (this includes the first two lines (status and forecast), the release date of the project and the current stage, budget, important moments for the client).
• Secondary (plans, problems, ideas, risks, and clarifying questions to the client).

The presence of a briefing part, which includes:

• Feedback.
• Information about events that may affect the business of the client.

In the same report, we do not simply indicate the problems that have arisen (or that can arise), but also suggest possible ways to solve them. The client remains to respond to the letter.

Why do we need a weekly report?

He pursues several goals - both very obvious and not so much.

First, it ensures the transparency of the development process. The goal is strategic. This is convenient for the customer (business owner) himself and his representative, who is formally “responsible” for using the budget. When on hands there is all history of process of work, for it it is easier to report.

Secondly, this report manages customer expectations. The report contains not only the current project status, but also realistic forecasts. And they also form adequate expectations and reduce the risk that a conflict of interests will arise one day.

Thirdly, the report notifies the client about problems, possible changes and risks. The report is written at the beginning of each week, which means that the customer has time to decide on the problem, and we have to quickly fix it.

Fourth, the report allows you to get feedback from the client. When a customer actively and regularly participates in the life of a project, there is a higher probability that the finished product “will fall into expectations”.

Fifth, the report is an “assurance paper . ” We deliberately write reports without any reference to specific people because of which something went wrong (even if the actual problems on the project arose through their fault). Only current problems, possible problems (in the forecast) and possible solutions to these problems. Thus, the manager, representing the customer, has a document in his hands, which you can always refer to in the event of a conflict and explain to the customer himself that the problem arose for these specific reasons.

By the way, there is such an inconspicuous but super-useful human quality as “the ability to report problems”. I even recently conducted a survey on this topic among colleagues. If the client-side manager works with you, he is prone to postponing problems for later, then a report is not the worst way to deprive him of such a privilege.

We designate a problem, offer solutions, the responsible person on the customer side responds to the report, the problem is eliminated. The whole process is documented, so in which case the report protects us and the client’s representative.

So, what we have:

What: Report on the current and future status of the project.
Who writes: Project manager.
How often: In the morning of every Monday.
To whom it sends: By e-mail manager of the customer + copy to my mail.

Of course, not without problems. The main difficulty lies in the total dislike of people writing reports. That is what will have to fight:

• Project managers will constantly postpone such a routine task “for later”.
• We will have to teach not only our own, but also our client managers to read reports in a timely manner and respond to them.

If you are ready to personally motivate everything “forgetting” about the reports of managers, then you can try to implement this in your own. But I would not recommend to small companies.

Please express your opinion on such reports. How useful, in your opinion, are they useful / harmful for the overall process and why.