There may be times in your work that you will use video to share a progress report. For example, you might record a walk-through of a space you are building to show your stakeholders the progress you have made. A game developer might demonstrate the latest features in a game as progress report on the next version. In any career field, you might make a video of a slideshow-based progress report with audio commentary so that stakeholders can watch the show on their own time.
Today, I have a video progress report on Charlie, a service dog in training to work with a U.S. veteran who has a disability. The Today Show is working with America’s VetDogs to follow the work that goes into preparing a service dog and highlight how the animals help veterans.
This Today Show video is a very informal progress report. It would not work for every audience; but it does demonstrate Charlie’s progress. Listen for details on what Charlie has learned and what will happen in the future as he continues his training.
From The Today Show: TODAY’s Puppy With A Purpose Charlie On His Way To Becoming A Valued Service Dog
Note: This video has closed captioning, so it does not need a transcript.
9 Comments
I think it’s so important to use video as a tool to show progress–some projects need to be seen for people to understand what exactly has been completed. It’s not practical in our project–writing a report–but things that are done that include physical aspects are perfect. I personally find it much more informative and exciting to watch a progress video than it is to just read a report. It’s similar to have grades be done over video: seeing and hearing really helps to emphasize the points that could only be read in a report. I think the next time I have a project that works with this medium, I may have to try it!
I know an indie game developer who puts out frequent progress report videos in addition to his changelogs that he announces on his website. I haven’t played his game in probably 2-3 years, but I still watch his videos in support of his ongoing development (I think he probably monetizes it on YouTube). His videos have made his game hugely successful. Beta players haven’t disappeared from boredom because he keeps effectively demonstrating progress on his game and where he’s going with it. It’s essentially that he’s keeping people’s interest even if they’re not invested in playing his debug builds. It’s impressive too: he has 2 million subscribers. Video progress reports can be very effective for the right purpose.
Being able to use videos to document progress is a very effective means of allowing for a visual representation of progress being made in any circumstance. In the construction field, either pictures or videos are used to give an owner or developer a visual representation of progress being made on the project. Without a visual means of allowing others to see progress being made, there is no way other than physically going to the project to see progress. Videos are an effective way to allow people to see progress from either a phone, laptop or any other kind of mobile device that supports video streaming or sharing. Also, pertaining to the Today Show video, I have the same kind of black lab and it reminded me of my dog.
I believe a progress report in the form of a video with commentary is one of the best ways to present your progress. If you present just a documentation, descriptions can become lengthy or details may be dropped in translation. Personally, I find it much easier to follow along and understand someones meaning when I can listen to them speak their mind. Then following up and reading about their progress after gaining an idea of their point of view makes it much easier to understand. Also, a well made video discription (a progress report in this case) means the audience can view it on their own time, and even view it multiple times if need be.
Just like what many others already said, to use videos as part of a progress report can be super helpful depending on the type of work it is showing the progression of. In the video it showed that Charlie was progressing and was able to tap the women’s hand with his nose. This video showed a little bit of the progress Charlie has made and soon he will be able to relate that to hitting button for his future owner. I feel like when it comes to the industry of what I want to go into (roadway design), using videos can be helpful to show the client the progress and the changes that were made over time to the design plans.
I personally think doing a video response is one of the most engaging progress reports to do. Obviously, it is only suitable in certain situations, however many people are visual learners and having a video to reference is important. I believe many people can learn from the simple response of someone through a video than through pages of documents that can become confusing if not presented correctly.
I think it is important that you mentioned the visual learning aspect. While most of our progress reports utilize visuals, a video connects the physical words and pictures and gives a whole new experience to the audience. It engages them more and can help them better understand the progress through this form of communication.
Personally, I think it is a really interesting way to show the progress report using video, but it is not appropriate for every project. Some project is really hard to record a progress and recording the progress will make this work too fussy. In other words, I think the infographic is the best way to create progress report to my client for me. The client can know how much I did recently by few seconds. It is more effective than a video. However, for other projects, it will be a really good method to show progress.
As a software engineer, most of the external progress reports I’ve given are visual and oral, but not necessarily videos. It’s really important to get something concrete in front of customers early in the development of a project because it always reveals either a difference in assumptions between customers and developers or a realization of flaws in the original idea. The result is a change to the project, and it’s always much less trouble and cost if that change happens as early in the project life cycle as possible. This doesn’t necessarily happen with progress report documents, especially when they don’t even include photos. It’s too hard for most people to visualize a product workflow when it’s being described abstractly.