Progress (Percent Complete)

How to measure it

Method first, number second. Options include 0/100 (credit only at completion), 50/50 (half at start, half at finish), weighted milestones (a set share per intermediate deliverable), and physical measurement by quantity — 14 of 20 screens through review is 70%. Pick the method that fits the work, then hold it steady: switching methods midstream corrupts the trend. Elapsed time is not a method — half the duration passing and half the work completing are different events. Agree on an update cadence too: progress updates aligned with the reporting cycle keep snapshots and reports from contradicting each other.

Why it matters

Percent complete is the raw material of earned value (EV). Leaf-task progress rolls up through weights into the project-level EV%; divided by the same date's PV%, it yields the SPI — and every weekly report's figures start here. The input discipline follows: progress is entered only at leaf tasks, where the work actually happens, and summary-node progress is always computed. Type a number directly into a summary and you have two sets of books — neither trustworthy.

Common misconceptions

The most famous pathology is eighty-percent-done syndrome: gut-called progress climbs fast early, then stalls near 80% for weeks, because the remaining 20% hid integration, fixes, and acceptance — half the real work. The weaker the measurement method, the sharper the symptom. One more hazard: tying progress numbers to performance reviews. The moment the number feeds appraisal, it inflates — and inflated progress switches off the schedule's entire early-warning system.