The innocent victim of hours of boredom induced by staring at a secession of MS Project progress charts, each competing with the other to see which could be most illegible, I find great solace in the chance to offer one manager's view of a "perfect' project management presentation.

If this is a new project, then what I want to know is the following:

What is the compelling reason to do this? Where is the cost benefit analysis?
What are we actually going to do? What is the scope of the project?
How much is it going to cost? What resources do we need?
When would it be finished?

When it comes time to review or discuss an ongoing project I am only interested to know three things, "are we on time, on spec and on budget?" and I am reasonably sure that applies to most of the audience as well.

It seems pretty simple, huh? Well apparently, at least judging from my own tortured past, it is not simple at all. In fact, making the presentation must, in my mind, be the most difficult part of a Project Manager's job. Therefore, here are one battle hardened manager's slightly biased suggestions that just might make it a pleasant experience for all.

1. Stick to the basics. Is it on time? Is it on scope? Is it on budget? Those kinds of easy to understand facts are what senior managers most want to know, and the higher up you go in the organization the more myopic the view on these matters becomes, particularly that latter one.

2. Speaking of scope, can we all try and get along here? Sure your bonus is directly proportional to your ability to stay in budget, but is replacing the glass in the windows with double strength Saran wrap really the answer? We managers are not that stupid, contrary to what most evidence might show.

3. While most Project Managers are highly qualified experts in various technical disciplines the rest of us are probably not. Keep it simple for those of us less talented. The improper pitch of the blades on the whizmotronic oscillator may be the reason you are late, but we don't particularly care to understand the intricate workings of this fine machine. You are late, when will it be fixed and what did it do to the budget is sufficient.

4. MS Project is a wonderful tool and those infinitely scalable Gantt charts are really cool, that is until you try and project them onto the screen in front of us. Remember a very simple phrase-milestones! Trying to find the date the building will be finished on a chart

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