The percentage on the project is not typed by anybody. It is worked out from the tasks, and kept in step as they move.
The rule
Progress is recomputed from the project’s tasks whenever one of them changes. And one rule matters more than the arithmetic:
A task marked done counts as 100, whatever its own percentage says. So ticking the last task off always lands the project on 100 — rather than on 94 because somebody left a task at “90% complete” before finishing it.
That sounds like a small thing. It is the difference between a number people trust and a number people explain away.
Reading it honestly
Progress counts tasks. It does not know that one of them is four days of work and another is twenty minutes. So read it alongside two other things:
| Compare progress with | Tells you |
|---|---|
| The dates | Whether you are where you should be by now. |
| The spend | Whether it is costing what it should. |
| The next milestone | Whether the thing the client cares about is on track. |
45% done, 38% spent, next milestone next week is a healthy project. 45% done, 80% spent, milestone two weeks overdue is the same percentage and a completely different conversation.
Setting it by hand
Progress can be set directly, for a project where tasks are not how the work is tracked. It stops reflecting the tasks the moment you do, so it is a choice between one honest number and another — not a way to make a struggling project look better.
Keeping it meaningful
- Make tasks roughly comparable in size. Not identical — just not one task for a month’s work beside one for an email.
- Mark things done as they finish, not in a weekly catch-up.
- Use in review for finished-but-unapproved, so progress does not jump on approval day.
What progress does not know
- That one task is four days and another is twenty minutes.
- That the last 10% of most jobs takes 30% of the effort.
- That three tasks are blocked on the same thing.
- That the client has not replied for a fortnight.
It is an honest count of tasks, and that is all it claims to be. It becomes useful the moment you read it beside the dates, the spend and the next milestone — which is why those four sit together on the record rather than on four different screens.
Keeping the number believable
| Habit | Effect |
|---|---|
| Mark things done as they finish. | Progress reflects today, not last Friday. |
| Use in review for finished-but-unapproved. | Progress does not jump on approval day. |
| Keep tasks roughly comparable in size. | The percentage means roughly what it says. |
| Do not leave a finished task at 90%. | Irrelevant — done counts as 100 regardless. That is the point of the rule. |
Where to go next
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