all articles

How to Write a Project Report That’s Actually Readable

date icon

Project reports are as necessary to a team’s efforts as water, and oftentimes just as boring. The problem is that some project managers are excellent at organizing large groups of people or coordinating schedules, but not so good at writing an effective document.

Now hold on, you say. It’s just putting words on a page. How hard can it be?

The answer is very hard. After all, why do you think companies hire specialist technical writers? Thankfully, project managers don’t have to resort to that to write a project report. Instead, you just need to remember a few things:

Write to Your Audience

Are you writing for upper management, or for the client? Different groups will be looking for different information. Upper management, for example, might be looking for productivity levels and staffing data. Clients will want close tracking of billable hours and project status.

Don’t forget terminology, either. Neither the client nor upper management may know what you’re talking about when you use internal team lingo.

Keep It Short

You’re writing a project report, not a college thesis. If the purpose of your report is to give a project update, then you should keep your report to a few pages at the most. There’s no need to include extra information like a project background or the like if you’re already mid-project since everyone should already know what you’re doing and why.

Stay Relevant

Yes, a task is a few days behind. But does the customer really need to know that your team member had a family emergency? All that matters to the customer is where the project is currently at, and what you’re doing to catch up. Everything else is none of their business. Management, on the other hand, might want to know why Jerry didn’t show up for work the past few days.

Illustrate Your Point

If you’re dealing with statistics and percentages, then perhaps the best way to get your information across is to use a chart or graph. This is especially true if you’re comparing similar information, such as hours worked per employee/task. This at-a-glance method is very convenient for the reader, plus leaves you less to write.

Proofread

Even professional novelists, who type upwards of 300,000 words a year, need to go back and check their work. Project reports aren’t nearly as long of course, but that only means you have fewer excuses to go back and review before sending it out. Typos, wrong names, and erroneous statistics are big issues when a six-figure project is at stake.

Possibly the best part about writing a readable, well-formatted report is that you can use it as a basis for future reports. It becomes a template on which you can just swap out with the most recent information. Yes, it seems daunting at first, but you’ll save so much more time in the future.

 

Follow us

Find Out How Easy Resource and Project Management Can Be!

Related Posts

Best PracticesBirdview News

Productivity in the workplace: How to measure. The most effective way

Best PracticesEngineering Teams

Engineering Project Management: Navigating Complex Projects to Success

Project Management Basics

Project management communication: Importance, Benefits, Steps and Best Practices

Nice! You just took the first step to achieving game-changing results.

To ensure your demo is tailored to your team’s specific needs, we're connecting you with a product specialist to better understand your requirements.

support illustration

Schedule a 30-minute meeting to start your trial

The calendar is loading... Please wait

It’ll take you 8-minutes to see
Birdview features in action:

  • Project Management
  • Financial Management
  • Resource Management
  • Custom Reporting
  • Artificial Intelligence
happy illustration

Nice! You just took the first step
to achieving game-changing results!

Create your account right now. Have a great start with your 14-day trial!

For the best experience please access Birdview PSA from a desktop PC or tablet or download Birdview PSA app at