In order to help in the continuous planning (and replanning) of a project, we believe that the writing of progress and planning reports can be a good tool. We can list several reasons for this, and perhaps there are more:
A) Assist in the analyses of performed work and how to use that experience in future work and thus assist in the planning of future work.
B) These reports may form the basis for future, more extended reports to
C) This is how project work is evaluated in industry - but perhaps with reports on an even shorter time base than suggested here.
D) Inform the board and the scientific management group about the progress of the work.
The board of Forum Scientium has thus decided that all graduate students should turn in a progress report every third month. The extent of the report should be 1-2 pages and it should contain a description of what has been achieved during the last three-month period and what the plans are for the coming three months. It should include all activities, not only the research activities. The report should be written in English, in the format and with the headlines given below. This report should be signed by the graduate student and shortly commented (a few sentences) by her/his supervisor.”
17 februari 2016
From now on there will only be three reports per year: Jan – March, April – August and Sept – December.
(For new PhD-students the first progress report should be handed in after appr. six months.)
The report is primarily written as a part of your own planning of your project. Secondly, you make it as a part of the communication between you and your supervisor.
I read it and use it as a background to the individual follow-ups.
Stefan Klintström