6
Components in the finished document
Monthly Performance Report
What moved this month, why, and what changes next, written so the first page can be read alone.
Where This Sits
2
Measured directly, not asserted
3
Pieces that carry my judgment
This is a Reporting deliverable, which means it accounts for what changed. It is the unit of scope: it can be commissioned on its own, priced on its own, and accepted on its own, whether or not anything else is bought alongside it.
It is not a package and not a retainer. It is one document with 6 components, and the list below is the whole of it.
What Is Inside It
Every component is listed with the one sentence that says what it is. They are grouped by how each one is produced, because the difference between a number a tool gave me and a number I decided matters more than most reports admit.
Measured
Pulled straight from tools and logs. No interpretation, so you can re-run any of it yourself and get the same numbers.
- Metric summary table
- The headline numbers for the period, against target and against the prior period.
- Annotation log
- A dated record of every change, release and external event, kept so later movements can be explained.
Computed
Built by combining the measurements above. Every figure states the inputs it came from.
- Trend chart set
- The period's movements plotted, with annotations aligned to the log.
Judged
My reading of the evidence. This is the part you are actually paying for, and the part you are entitled to argue with.
- Wins and misses list
- What worked, what did not, and the honest reason for each.
- Next period priorities
- The small number of things that will get attention next, and what is deliberately being dropped.
- Caveats statement
- What the numbers in this report cannot be used to claim.