Speaker's Bio:

Brianne is a senior program director leading cross-functional projects and programs for a variety of Fortune 500 clients. Her background in electrical and systems engineering has given her exposure to many different industries, including manufacturing, software development and testing, DoD contracting, and digital consulting. Brianne is passionate about using data to empower her teams to make informed project decisions and feel confident in next steps. She is known to have a spreadsheet for just about anything, bonus points if it is automated! In her personal time, she can be found running, reading, or spending time with her husband and son. As a UVA alumna, she is an avid supporter of all UVA athletics - Wahoowa!

Summary:

Reporting - it’s the buzzword that every project manager knows will be part of their day-to-day, regardless of it being explicitly called out in the job description. We are all familiar with the slog of asking team members for updates on their progress, or tracking hours worked against our budget, just to send out a report that our stakeholders will gloss over.

The secret sauce is to make reports simple to create, easy to digest, and invaluable to key stakeholders at the executive level. Stakeholders should be able to discern key information from reports in 10 seconds or less. I endeavor to use already existing data to create compelling visuals, surface risks, and drive next steps on my projects at a glance, all through spreadsheets and a cone of uncertainty.

Key Learning Objectives:

You will leave this session with more information about:

• How to use project data to forecast project milestones, including potential risks (issues and opportunities)
• How to build a simple, customizable cone of uncertainty using spreadsheet software (e.g. Excel, Google Sheets)
• A refresher on clear, concise, powerful project reports that drive trust and confidence with key stakeholders