How a project runs: milestones, progress and updates you can see

In short: You can see milestones, a computed progress bar, written updates and your files at any time.

Most project stress comes from not knowing where things stand. So every project I run lives in a client area where you can look any time.

What you can see

• Status: proposal, in progress, on hold, completed or cancelled. Status changes follow a checked flow, so a project cannot jump to a nonsense state.
• Milestones: the project is broken into parts, such as design approved, first working version, final delivery.
• Progress: the progress bar is calculated from the milestones that are done. It is not a number I type in, so it cannot be flattered.
• Updates: short written notes about what happened. Some are visible to you. Others are internal working notes and stay private to me.
• Files: documents attached to the project, such as contracts or deliverables, sit in a private vault.

Why I do it this way

A progress number I choose by hand can drift from reality. A number computed from finished milestones cannot. If a milestone is not done, the bar does not move.

What I ask from you

Look at the milestone list at the start and tell me if it does not match what you expect. Changing a milestone in week one is cheap. Changing it at the end is not.