Chapter 15: Progress Reports

Objectives

Upon completion of this chapter, readers will be able to do the following:

1. Describe the purpose and key functions of progress reports in professional contexts.
2. Identify the typical components of a progress report, including completed work, current tasks, upcoming tasks, problems encountered, and an overall assessment.
3. Differentiate between formats and organizational strategies for progress reports, including time-based, task-based, and topic-based structures.
4. Compose a clear and professional progress report that addresses both specialist and nonspecialist audiences, using appropriate structure, tone, and formatting.
5. Revise a draft progress report for clarity, organization, and completeness, using a checklist to ensure inclusion of required sections and effective communication.

Introduction to Progress Reports

Progress reports are written to inform interested parties about the progress you've made on a project over a duration of time. The need for a progress report varies based on the circumstances, but in general, you write progress reports when it takes a few months or longer to complete a project.

Functions and Contents of Progress Reports

Progress reports communicate the current status of a project to invested parties. These reports provide a snapshot of where things stand and allow all parties to stay informed, address challenges early, and ensure alignment as the project moves forward.

A well-written progress report typically includes the following key information:

• Completed work: A summary of the tasks or milestones completed since the last report.
• Work in progress: A description of the tasks currently underway and their estimated completion time.
• Upcoming tasks: An outline of what remains to be done, along with timelines and responsible parties.
• Problems or unexpected issues: Any challenges, delays, or unplanned developments, along with explanations proposed solutions.
• Overall project status: A general assessment of how the project is progressing in terms of goals, deadlines, and deliverables.

In addition to sharing information, progress reports have several important functions:

1. Reassure stakeholders that the project is advancing as planned.
2. Provide insight into preliminary findings or early project outcomes, helping readers understand the work in context.
3. Invite feedback, allowing stakeholders to review the progress and request changes or clarifications as needed.
4. Highlight concerns, giving the writer a chance to address issues before they escalate, and helping the team stay proactive.
5. Encourage accountability, helping the writer stay on track by setting clear goals and maintaining a timeline.
6. Enhance professionalism, demonstrating that the writer is organized, communicative, and committed to project success.

By clearly communicating progress and challenges, these reports contribute to the transparency and efficiency of any collaborative project.

Timing and Format of Progress Reports

In a year-long project, for example, customarily three progress reports are provided, after three, six, and nine months. Depending on the size of the progress report, the length and importance of the project, and the recipient, the progress report can take the following forms:

• Memo or email: A short, informal report to someone within your organization
• Letter: A short, informal report sent to someone outside your organization
• Formal report: A formal report sent to someone outside your organization

Organizational Patterns for Progress Reports

The recipient of a progress report wants to see what you've accomplished on the project, what you are working on now, what you plan to work on next, and how the project is going in general. To report this information, you combine two of these organizational strategies: time periods, project tasks, or report topics.

Time Periods

A progress report usually summarizes work within each of the following:

• Work accomplished in the preceding period(s)
• Work currently being performed
• Work planned for the next period(s)

Project Tasks

Practically every project breaks down into individual tasks.

Table 1: Project Tasks—one organizational approach to progress reports

Report Topics

You can also organize your progress report according to the work done on the sections of the final report. In a report project on developing a task management application, you would need information on that topic. For example:

For each of these topics, you'd explain the work you have done, the work you are currently doing, and the work you have planned.

A progress report is actually a combination of two of these organizational strategies. The following outline excerpts give you an idea of how they can combine.

Table 2: Progress Report Outlines

The following illustration shows an example of the project-tasks approach with subheadings for time periods.

The following example shows a progress report organized by project tasks.

Other Parts of Progress Reports

In your progress report, you also need the following.

• an introduction that reviews the purpose and scope of the project
• a detailed description of your project and its history
• an overall appraisal of the project to date, which usually acts as the conclusion.

Introduction

Review the details of your project's purpose, scope, and activities to aid recipients who are unfamiliar with the project, who do not remember certain details, or who want to doublecheck your approach to the project. For example:

I am now submitting to you a report on the progress that I have made on the development of your company’s new task management application. Immediately following the January 15 kickoff meeting, out team began work on the project in accordance with the software development plan.

The introduction can contain the following:

• Purpose of the project
• Specific objectives of the project
• Scope, or limits, of the project
• Date the project began; date the project is scheduled to be completed
• People or organization working on the project
• People or organization for whom the project is being done
• Overview of the contents of the progress report

Project Description

In most progress reports, include a project description to review the details of your project for the recipients.

Conclusion

The final paragraph or section usually reassures audiences that all is going well and on schedule. It can also alert recipients to unexpected changes or problems in the project.

Revision Checklist for Progress Reports

As you reread and revise your progress report, watch out for problems such as the following:

• Make sure you use the right format. Remember, the memo format is for internal progress reports; the business-letter format is for progress reports written from one external organization to another. (Whether you use a cover memo or cover letter is your choice.)
• Write a good introduction. In it, state that this is a progress report, and provide an overview of the contents of the progress report.
• Make sure to include a description of the final completed project.
• Use one or a combination of the organizational patterns in the discussion of your work.
• Use headings to mark off the different parts of your progress report, particularly the different parts of your summary of work done on the project.
• Use lists as appropriate.
• Provide specifics. Avoid relying on vague, overly general statements about the work you've done on the final report project.
• Address the progress report to the real or realistic audience—not your instructor.
• Assume there will be nonspecialists reading your progress report. But don't avoid discussion of technical aspects of the project—just bring them down to a level that nonspecialists can understand.

Attribution

This chapter is revised from the first edition of Open Technical Communication, Chapter 2.5: “Progress Reports” by David McMurrey, which is openly available under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

The content in Chapter 2.5 of the first edition of Open TC was originally sourced and revised from David McMurrey’s Online Technical Writing, section titled “Progress Reports,” which is openly available under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

AI Assistance Notice

Some parts of this chapter were brainstormed, drafted, and/or revised in conversation with ChatGPT 4o and Google Gemini 2.5 Flash. All AI-generated content was reviewed and revised as needed by a human author.