If you want to know if your report is worthwhile and not just going to tell you that the ship is sinking, use this checklist:
- What would you do if you didn’t have the report?
- What’s the purpose of the report? (in two or three sentences)
- When the report indicates a problem, is it too late to do something about it?
- Has the report ever helped prevent a problem or fix a problem?
- What have you got out of the report historically?
- What could you use instead of the report, to get the same information?
- How often do you really look at the report?
- Are the measurements lagging indicators or leading indicators?
- What does it cost to maintain?
- What’s unnecessary that could be removed?
- Is it worth looking at? Is this report distracting you from something more important?
- Did someone tell you to look at it? Would you look at it if they had not asked you to?
- How do you plan to use it in the future? Is that justifiable?
- If you could only have one report in your life, would this report even be considered?