Do you keep progress reports on a daily basis? On a weekly basis? Do you need frequent review meetings? How often you monitor a project depends on several factors:

• The scope of the project

• The number of people working on the project

• The skill level of the individuals working on the project

• The schedule/time frame of the project

• The familiarity of the project (are team members taking on tasks that they have not done before?)

• Communication needs (are stakeholders, upper-level managers, or others waiting for, or expecting, regular updates?)

• The complexity of the project (are there numerous technical details?)

• The level of risk associated with the project

• The resources associated with the project

Let's look more closely at each of these factors to help determine how often to monitor a project.

Scope

Larger projects will generally require closer and more frequent monitoring, since numerous activities are taking place and there is a greater likelihood that some areas of the project will fall behind or that a problem will arise. A larger project will need a more formal system of monitoring while a small, or family, project can be monitored informally.

Number of People on the Project

When more people are involved, the chance of human error is greater, no matter what the overall scope of the project. Unless everyone is doing the same task, it takes closer monitoring to make sure each person stays on track. (Don't overdo it, however. More on this later.) Usually, more people will mean more monitoring. However, fifty people performing the same activity may be easier to monitor than ten people doing ten different tasks, because you will be able to use the same baseline criteria for the fifty people.

If outside contractors, suppliers, consultants, and others are necessary to help complete your project, it may be hard to keep track of their progress, especially if they are working off site. It's to your advantage to include them in aspects of the project. Keep them updated on the project's progress, include them in team get-togethers, etc. The more involved they become, the more accessible they will be, and the easier it will be for you to get the updates you need. You can set up the how and when of supplying you with a progress report, but you'll often get better results by establishing a good rapport with outside vendors and resources.

Skill Level

You may have experts who have done the same activities many times before. These individuals may not need to be monitored as often or as closely as people who are doing a task for the first time. So as not to micro-manage, you may simply set up more frequent checkpoints in the process or have more meetings to closely monitor individuals who are less familiar with specific tasks. You can also make it clear that people should be able to approach you with questions or problems, especially if they are being trained or are new to a specific task.

Schedule

If the project requires presenting deliverables every couple of weeks, you will want to monitor on a weekly basis (at the least). A longer project with more time committed to each task and no deliverables until the end result may allow you greater intervals before you'll need to monitor the progress. You can judge your progress based on when the team reaches specific milestones on your original schedule, which is a very common way to monitor projects.

Remember, each person needs to stay on schedule. The farther behind the project falls, the more closely you'll have to monitor progress. Generally, there's a little slack built into the schedule, but the further behind you fall, the less slack there is to play with. If, for example, you know that the project can run three days behind schedule, and you're already two days behind and not even halfway finished, you'll need to monitor more closely to see where you can pick up the pace.

Familiarity of the Project

If you've never done this project before, you'll need to monitor more closely to make sure you haven't veered off course. It will be important to have a prototype or some form of blueprint or document on which to base your project. If, for example, you're setting up a backyard swing set for the kids, you'll have to check the diagram more closely as you go and double check for safety each step of the way. When a team has done a similar project in the past, you can monitor more loosely.

Communication Needs

If stakeholders or others expect monthly, weekly, or daily updates or reports, you have to furnish them with the latest project news. That news will come from monitoring your project to respond to their needs. Make sure you address the needs of the individuals waiting to hear the latest developments. High-profile projects, such as the building of a new bridge or a new convention center, will often require you to provide frequent updates to numerous media sources as well as politicians and other government offices.

Complexity

The more nuts and bolts there are in the project, the more closely you'll need to oversee what is going on. Complex projects are more likely to have potential for error, so they need to be tracked more closely. These may include numerous tests for quality assessment.

Risk

“Risk” is a relative term. Building a power plant takes much closer monitoring than planning a convention. A project that can be potentially detrimental to the world at large obviously requires much closer monitoring than building the backyard pool. The risk that your new corporate offices will not be ready on time does not affect the world at large; however, it does affect the success of your company and the jobs of many people.

Projects involve two levels of risk. One is the risk of the project failing in the larger picture and the other is internal risk, meaning that the project won't get completed. While your first risk is that of the project failing, the greater risk lies in the consequences of the project failing, which will affect the stakeholders. But how? Will the company fall behind in the marketplace, causing lower sales figures and costing people their jobs? Will people simply have to wait fifteen minutes longer for the bus because the new subway-line project bombed? Basically, if a project fails and no one is affected by it, then there wasn't much risk involved. But if the project fails and shuts down the city of Pittsburgh for two weeks, there was significant real-world risk involved. Monitor accordingly.

Resources

What do you need to complete the project? Resources may seem plentiful when you start out, but they can run out fast. From labor to paper clips, it's important that you keep an eye on what is running low. Do you need toner for the printer? Are you out of cement for construction? Has your art director just left for another project? Monitor what you have and what you need.

Once you monitor the project (as often as necessary to keep you abreast of what is going on), you will need to do something with the data you have gathered. The point of monitoring a project is that someone will gain insight from the information. After all, if you monitor a project and no one ever reads or evaluates the data, what is the point? Gather the information, then compare and analyze what you have gathered and make an assessment of where you stand in each area.