1. Progress or Status Report
ELEC 421 Design I

2. What is a status report?
A recurring update an employee gives to a manager
Represents a critical communication within any reporting relationship, across all job functions, industries, and company sizes
Internal (addressed to supervisor) or external (to client or sponsor)

3. Employee benefits
Help employees plan and prioritize their efforts against their goals
Provide a platform to share their perspectives
gives them a voice
aligns focus with manager expectations
helps address workplace dependencies
provides a record of efforts and outputs
offers an opportunity for recognition

4. People managers benefits
Provide managers with the information they need to manage the team more successfully
gives planning and forecasting insights
creates a catalog of employee activity
opens new views into the business
offers quick access to urgent matters
allows for the recognition of great work
provides a minimalist approach to management
“Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower

5. Owners & Executives benefits
Helps them see trends across their business
gains insights across departments
captures a bottoms-up view of the business
increases company transparency
makes for a happier workforce with a voice
creates a powerful motivation and tracking tool

6. Characteristics
Concisely summarize the current project status, i.e., key design decisions, significant research and test findings, and next steps)
Intended to be read quickly
Use short paragraphs, headings, subheadings, and bullet lists
Contributed by all members
Tone: businesslike & straightforward

7. Characteristics Format: memos with appendices
Avoid generic statements that apply to all projects. Be specific.
Support decisions with significant findings from research and testing (site sources)
Raise issues you need help on from your instructor and/or technical advisor
Provide details of what, when, where, why, and how you will accomplish your goals

8. Appendices
Used in providing raw data, work breakdown structure (WBS), Gantt Chart, and other supporting information
Put only one kind of information in each
Arrange and label appendices for easy and quick access
Make sure you refer to each appendix at least once in the body of the report
Start with a brief introduction if not self- explanatory

10. Pitfall #1 Insufficient details to support your decisions
Readers need enough specific information to understand what you have learned about the problem and the rationale behind your decisions.
The mockups we have designed are straightforward and, to the best of our knowledge, do not harm the environment or create safety problems. Our team has not used any more Styrofoam than what is present in the current design used by the paint company.

11. Pitfall #2 Using a story format to explain your research
We conducted a number of mockup tests to determine the best way to hold the attachments in place. We decided that our first mockup would use Velcro to perform this function. We had to find out whether Velcro would be strong enough to work. So we applied the Velcro to the attachments, and then put them on the mockup. Then, we had our users try to pull the attachments off. During the test, we saw that it was too easy for the users to pull off the attachments. Consequently, we decided not to use this feature.

12. Revision
The following revision is concise and puts the emphasis on the decision, where it belongs.
Notice that it begins with a clear topic sentence.
Mockup testing led us to eliminate Velcro as a method of holding the attachments in place. During the tests, users pulled off the Velcro attachments on the first mockup too easily.

13. Grading Advisor’s and course instructor’s signature
Accomplishments by each team member
Projections for the next reporting period
Affix to the lab notebook
A clear, comprehensive report that communicates what you have been doing and where you are headed