No-progress intimations and expectation management

I have written earlier about the importance of managing expectations all around in project management – same applies to our work as well. I recently stumbled upon one such situation. We had to release a version of application for client review in the evening and the developer working on the administration module left for the day without updating me on the status. As it was to happen, I could not release that day and had to write an email to manage client’s expectations.  When quizzed the next day, he informed that the build was ready the previous evening – and he just guessed that I would know about it.

We usually send out progress report as the project progresses – but what do we do when the team has not made any progress? Rajesh Shetty suggests a great way to manage expectations at the other end in such cases – send “No-progress” report.

It is all about managing the expectation of the other party – it could be a simple email intimation, a call across the department or a “no-progress report”.