Delivering a successful project requires good and frequent communication. Communication with the project sponsors, the stakeholders, the team, and the impacted customers. Everyone needs communication about the project, but each group requires communication that is customized to meet their needs. The sponsor will only need a high-level weekly update.
The update will contain large milestones, milestone status, roadblocks, and high-level overall project status. The project team, on the other hand, will require a weekly project call to discuss assigned tasks, status of task deliverables, potential roadblock assistance, and upcoming tasks. The weekly project scorecard is designed to keep everyone on the same page at a high-level. It is primarily for the project sponsor and stakeholders, but everyone that is participating in the project should receive a copy.
Information
The information provided in the weekly project updates needs to be a standard. Include the project name, the reason the project was initiated (the pain point), the proposed solution, the high level milestones, projected due dates for each, status for each milestone, the date the scorecard was updated, and the project participants. Remember, this is a high-level weekly scorecard. The recipients should be able to review the scorecard in under 1 minute to obtain a high-level understanding of the project status.
Format
If the format is not defined, each project manager will create their own definition. Using an Excel template is an easy way to create a standard template. The template ensures that the updates have the same look, feel, and information. The email itself should have a standard subject line, and a rule regarding length of update. The standard subject line allows recipients to make rules in Outlook to file them away. Remember, these aren’t always reviewed every week, but the recipients need to be confident that the data will be in their email box when they need it for reference.
Delivery
The project team needs a weekly call to review priorities, tasks, and roadblocks. However, the scorecard should be communicated in a method that allows all the involved parties to review, or not review, at their leisure. Sending an update via email works the best. This allows users to file the email, and review when they have a need to be updated on the project status. Project stakeholders need to be confident that they can find a project status update on demand. They may not need the update for a few weeks, but when they do, they can count on the email being filed away in their email box for quick reference.
Cadence
If a frequency or cadence is not defined, each project manager will simply make up their own definition. This leads to poor communication and frustrated customers. Project scorecards should be sent on a weekly basis on a defined day for as long as the project is active. If the project is going to be dormant for a period of time, then the project should be officially put on hold, and that must be communicated to everyone involved in the project. Make sure your team, customers, and vendors are all on the same page by defining project scorecard update frequency as being sent weekly on a specific day.
Great communication is key to a successful project. Develop standards on how your project managers communicate to the project stakeholders. A weekly scorecard is simply 1 of the tools that should be used to keep the team updates. Standards should be created around the scorecard template, information, format, delivery method, and cadence.