Percentage of Completion – Is It Meaningful? (# 1)

In many companies, normally Managers report with percentage (%) of completion for the deliverables in a project. Is it meaningful? Does it really convey what has been accomplished?

As a matter of fact, it does not convey the reality of the project. Also, in the current economic environment, when every penny is important for a company and its customers, appropriate data tracking and reporting are gaining importance.

Note: Though the following discussion is done by keeping a Software Development Project in mind, the principles are applicable in many project development environments.

Now, let us check the theory of percentage of completion.

Why is it Meaningless?


Reason – 1:

First a question - what does it mean when a team member says that his/her work is 90% complete?

Does it mean that his/her coding is 90% complete or his/her unit testing is 90% complete or (s)he was waiting for someone's approval and that is 90% complete? Or, is it a combination of all the aforementioned cases?

If it is combination of all the cases, then what are they? If any manager wants to write it down in a project report, then can (s)he really do it? Obviously, it is practically impossible to report on all the possible cases.

Reason – 2:

Another way to look at it, one day a developer in the team says that his/her deliverable is 90% complete. And the supervisor might think it will be complete in 3/4 days – considering the number of days allocated. After 3/4 days (s)he says it is 95% complete. Then, the revised assumption becomes - completion will be in 1/2 days. After couple of days, it is 99% complete - due to some other constraints. And it goes on.

So, what a manager can do to report correct status?

To be continued . . .

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