Programme steering series (1/7): Why most project reports answer the wrong questions

What decision is your Steering Committee actually supposed to make after reading this report?

Most project reports I see are technically sound. Traffic lights set correctly. Milestones documented. Budget variances listed.

And yet the same thing happens in the Steering Committee: a brief nod, no discussion, meeting over.

I know this problem from many programmes: status reports are optimised to show progress. Not to trigger decisions.

Research on project status reporting has confirmed this for years: reports often present problems too positively, and warning signals get lost on their way to management.

Reporting is not a documentation tool. Reporting is a steering tool – with a clear logic: activity → progress → deviation → need for a decision → decision.

If your reporting does not show where a decision is needed – and where deliberately no decision is needed – it is more about reporting activity than steering.

#ProjectSteering #Leadership #PMO