Succeeding in the Project Management Jungle

CHAPTER 10Monitoring, Controlling, and Reporting

MONITORING AND CONTROLLING seems boring. After all, careers aren’t made in monitoring and controlling—they are made in execution—but they can be lost here. The dictionary definition might be “regularly observing project execution and measuring variances to plan so that appropriate corrective actions can occur.” My view is that monitoring and controlling are about correctly deciding what limited set of data you need and how to effectively adjust based on what those data show you. I have added reporting as a separate entry because how and what you report is at least as important as the data you collect and the actions you take to control your project.

Frankly, there is often an overly analytical, ...