LEADERSHIP

STICK THE LANDING • 135
Some project leaders create a wrap-up report for senior
management. This is a perfect opportunity to communicate to
your principals the project’s accomplishments, challenges, and
lessons learned. It is also a good time to formally thank key
contributors, team players, and others who made your job a
little easier or more successful.
Writing the Final Report
The wrap-up report may be as brief as an interoffice memo
or as lengthy as a total project review. Regardless of the size,
write the report with a professional, objective tone. Keep your
report as brief as possible. The longer the report, the less likely
it will be read! Focus on the reader’s point of view, and make
sure the report is appropriate for everyone who will have access
to it—senior management’s report is probably not appropriate
for the project team or the customer. It’s the project
leader’s responsibility to handle all sensitive information carefully.
Report Content
At a minimum, include the following five sections in every
final report. This format sets the stage for objective, positive,
and professional renderings of your projects. Each section’s
length and exact content can be altered depending on your
audience.
Executive Summary—A short, written overview of the
project’s goals and achievements, a summary of the project’s
implementation process, and an overview of how well the
project met the performance, time, and cost constraints. If
you’ve used a Task Analysis Chart to track progress, adding a