The Making Reports Checklist

A guidebook for anyone who has ever missed a deadline or spent an entire weekend at the office trying not to.

  • Practical questions in the form of checklists to help you produce quality reports on time, under budget and with less stress.
  • Resources to help you prepare better looking reports more efficiently.
  • Tips on streamlining your report production process.

I have been helping people produce publications of all kinds for many years. So often I found myself thinking, “If only we had known that when we started (or last week, or yesterday, or an hour ago!”). I finally decided to start writing down all the questions I wanted to ask a client before I started the next job and ended up with the checklists in this handbook.

Most of the delays, frustrations and disputes that occur in the process of producing a publication are the result of not thinking of one of the items on these lists until the last minute. Or as sometimes happens, after the last minute.

Producing a publication is a process. The same basic process applies to most types of publications you have to produce, whether it is a simple A4 2-sided flyer, a proposal or an annual report. And the process is the same whatever the language of the publication. If you understand the process, you can produce quality reports with a minimum of effort and stress. Based on experience, I have divided the publication process into six stages:

  1. Planning
  2. Compiling
  3. Design and Layout
  4. Production
  5. Distribution
  6. Feedback

Download a free copy of Making Reports Checklist