TOPIC: Report to Senior Management: Gantt chart?

Which is the right tool to report to management/senior management? Would it be Gantt chart/bar charts or Milestone chart according to PMBOK 4? I could not find any reference or did I miss this in PMBOK 4?

Thanks

Dear Edward:

Gantt charts, bar charts or milestone charts can all be used for reporting to the higher ups. There is no hard and fast use which of these tools to be used exclusively. The choice of the reporting method depends upon the management’s requirements and preferences.

Please elaborate your question if this doesn’t help you resolve your doubt.

Regards,

Khurram

It seems with some of the commerical answer it varies.

Or can the logic that senior management would require big picture, that a milestone chart would be the answer. And if it is manager, it would be Gantt, since they would want to know a little more of the logic.

I guess if you had a question which choices, for Senior Management, if the option was Gantt or Milestone, which would you choose and why since it seems there is no different answer in PMBOK 4?

Thanks again.

If that’s the question on a sample exam, I would say it’s very vague. I am sure such questions get filtered out by PMI before they find their way to a real PMP exam.

Practically speaking, the type and content of the report depends upon the management’s requirements? What if the management is heavily interested in the minute details of the project? Or what if they are happy with high level details only? Situation would vary from project to project and from organization to organization.

PMBOK recommends project managers to do a stakeholder analysis. This includes their communication requirements. So the type, content and the level of detail in a management report depends upon the management’s requirements and preferences.

My recommendation: Use the sample question available on the internet to help you prepare for your exam. If something is distracting, just leave it and move on.

Regards,

Khurram