Why percentage progress lies — and what to measure instead
Ask five engineers for progress on the same front and you will get five numbers. The problem is not honesty; it is that percentage is a conclusion, not a measurement.
The 90% syndrome
Every planner knows the front that reached 90% in month three and stayed there for a year. It happens because a percentage is a judgement, and judgement drifts towards optimism when a review is coming. Physical quantity does not drift. Either 412 cubic metres were poured or they were not.
Measure the denominator first
A percentage is only as good as the scope it divides by. If your WBS says "Civil works — 1 No", nothing downstream can be right. Break scope into the units your contract already uses — Cu.M of concrete, MT of structural steel, Dia-Inch of piping, RMT of cable, Sq.M of shuttering — and the percentage becomes an output rather than an opinion.
Then measure the rate, not just the total
Cumulative progress hides the trend. A front at 60% that is doing 40 Cu.M a day will finish; the same front doing 8 Cu.M a day will not. Compare the trailing 21-day rate against the rate the balance quantity demands, and you have a forecast finish date instead of a feeling.
What this changes at the review
The conversation stops being "are you sure it's 72%" and becomes "you need 34 Cu.M a day and you are doing 19 — what do you need". That is a solvable question, and it is the only one that matters four months before a milestone.
Plan-Sarthi puts these practices into one workspace — validated DPRs driving the S-curve, critical path, earned value and forecast automatically.
Start the 14-day free trialRead next
Questions or a topic you want covered? Write to admin@plansarthi.com.