| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1484.1 | | ESCROW::KILGORE | I am the captain of my soul | Fri May 31 1991 15:54 | 40 |
|
What seems to work in our engineering group:
------------
ACCOMPLISHMENTS PLANNED
status of what we planned to do this past month (should
exactly complement PLANS FOR NEXT MONTH from previous report --
see below)
ACCOMPLISHMENTS NOT PLANNED
brownie points -- above and beyond the call of duty
PLANS NOT ACCOMPLISHED
deep doo-doo -- promises not kept
OUTSTANDING ISSUES
things that are getting in our way, that hopefully the
people reading this report can do something about
(NOTE -- for minimum career impact, make sure this is not
the first time they are seeing these issues -- no suprises)
HOT ISSUES
use sparingly, for real butt-burners that you want to make
known at the highest possible level (see note above)
PLANS FOR NEXT MONTH
justification for your continued existence
------------
KEEP YOUR REPORTS. They make great references for performance
evaluations and salary reviews.
|
| 1484.2 | | TRODON::SIMPSON | Number Five. The naughty bits. | Fri May 31 1991 19:09 | 14 |
| I don't know about monthly reports, but a consultant I used to work with
(another incarnation) had a brilliantly effective weekly reporting system.
It NEVER exceeded one page, and it consisted of only four headings:
Good News
Bad News
Problems
Action Items
A problem was Bad News from a previous report that was still outstanding.
The beauty was that a manager could skim an entire group's activities without
geting buried under feet of paper. What can I say? It worked.
|
| 1484.3 | Elaborate | TLE::AMARTIN | Alan H. Martin | Sat Jun 01 1991 08:01 | 13 |
| Re .2:
>It NEVER exceeded one page, and it consisted of only four headings:
>
> Good News
> Bad News
> Problems
> Action Items
What does "Action Items" refer to, pray tell? Is it a list of outstanding
action items you have assumed, outstanding action items you have delegated
downward, outstanding action items you are (attempting to) delegate upward, ...?
/AHM/THX
|
| 1484.4 | How to delivery that monthly report | ESRAD::PANGAKIS | Tara Pangakis DTN 287-3551 | Mon Jun 03 1991 09:24 | 4 |
| Thanks for the input. I'm also curious about the delivery mechanisms.
Electronic MAIL, paper, a message left on the answering machine, NOTES,
what's effective?
|
| 1484.5 | E-mail | ESCROW::KILGORE | I am the captain of my soul | Mon Jun 03 1991 09:49 | 1 |
|
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| 1484.6 | How do you combine 'em all? | FSLENG::SCARDIGNO | Do it RIGHT the 1ST time | Tue Jun 04 1991 12:07 | 18 |
|
I happened to do weekly reports. Format is (with "bullets"):
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
PLANS FOR UPCOMING WEEK
The problem I've always seen is: How do you combine all those
reports for the quarterly summaries? ... especially the MAJOR
ACCOMPLISHMENTS & SAVING$.
Any VMS software "out there" that will do that?
Steve
|
| 1484.7 | Project Report Format | MEMORY::LEBLANC | Ruth E. LeBlanc | Wed Jun 19 1991 11:43 | 36 |
| A somewhat belated reply, but...
One format I haven't seen mentioned yet in this reply string is the
Project format. Rather than each individual saying what s/he has or
will do, it is helpful in some cases to report primarily on the status
of various activities. This is particularly good in a very project-
oriented department. An example would be:
Project name:
Key players:
Project Description/Overview:
Present Status:
To Be Done:
Since monthly reports are often designed to keep managers informed of
what's going on in their departments, this technique seems to work well.
When my manager was in a meeting and someone asked about Project X, he
could quickly refer to his project report. Or, if someone was
unexpectedly out sick (or whatever), his/her projects could easily be
reviewed/delegated/etc. inasmuch as all key contacts are listed (those
are people who could pick up loose ends), the status is given, and next
steps are identified.
Personally, I like it because it seems less "Big Brother-ish" (what
work did YOU do this month?), and more focused on the business. Of
course, the downfall is that non-project related stuff doesn't get
included in this format. For those people with task-oriented jobs, it
could be detrimental.
As for vehicle, I (the manager's secretary) pulled together input from
each group member via ALL-IN-1. I tied them into one document then
printed hardcopies for each of my manager's direct reports. [Note: in
addition to the manager being able to speak intelligently, at a moment's
notice, on the events of his department, it also enabled his folks to
'pinch hit' more effectively.]
|