When is Green not Green? When it's on a project status report of course!
I've digested enough project status reports in my time to know that the truth is in there somewhere, call it a sixth sense, but my gut feel tells me something is lurking waiting to bite me. Of course you shouldn't need to rely on a sixth sense because the report author should be calling it out loud and clear for all to see.If this is happening within your organisation the problem is most likely cultural.
Making a status report red doesn’t mean you’ve failed as a project manager – it’s actually a way for you to call attention to the parts of the project that require fixing. No one should be impressed by a PM who consistently reports Green, Green, Green - RED! if things are going wrong they need to be communicated so that Sponsors can make decisions and take actions in a timely manner to put it right.
Accurate, effective status reporting is one of the key tools you have at your disposal for getting what you and your project desperately needs - help and support. Sweeping things under the carpet, shying away from delivering hard messages and being economical with the truth benefits nobody, least of all your organisation.
I remember reading an article about being economical with the truth without doing anything wrong which perfectly illustrates this point...
At the Manchester Evening News they used to print the newspaper with the old hot-metal presses. Tom Henry, the then editor was an avid Man United fan who hated to see his beloved team lose. One Saturday, spotting a "United crash 5-2" headline on the press he quickly changed type setting to "United in 7-goal thriller". This was a subtly different spin and one which did not change the end result but for those reading the headline that evening who weren't at the game it was probably not immediately obvious how badly Man United had played due to key injuries and probably wouldn't have been a cause for concern depsite the severity and likely persistence of those injuries into the next few weeks and critical games!
...we must not allow pride to get in the way of open and honest reporting of facts.
TIP : Don't ever be a lazy PM. Waiting for someone else to spot the problem is unacceptable. Equally simply making the project red and then sitting back expecting it to be fixed for you is somewhat career limiting to say the least. Remember it's your job as the PM to consult with your project team to identify a number of options and select the best one to remedy the situation. Having chosen the most appropriate course of action, make the report red to draw attention and then articulate the agreed action plan of how you are going to recover the situation. Oh and be prepared to receive phone calls and requests for more information as people get the message and take an interest - communicating status verbally is another part of your job too!
