What is Watermelon Reporting?

Every company has Watermelon reporting.

Watermelon reporting is when communication about a project status is green on the outside, yet red on the inside. The status is “all okay” but the reality is far from that.

I’m of course referring to RAG status reporting: Red, Amber, Green that is so prevalent in business - something I always advice against using in the first place. RAG status reporting is a shortcut way of communicating status, and it’s typically extremely unreliable.

The problem with most RAG status reporting is that it’s often subjective. It’s easy to game. It’s easy to lie. It’s easy to assume the best. It’s easy to paint a brighter picture than the reality. It’s easy to “miss” information.

The powerpoint says everything’s green, yet the team doing the work are barely holding it together. This is Watermelon Reporting.

It's prevalent in companies with poor working cultures, where it's safer (at least in the short-term) to pass a little white lie and say everything is ok. People often do this with the false hope that they can recover the project - so the lie is not discovered. People do this because it's not a culture of help and support, but one of tyranny and blame.

They go Amber, or Green, when the reality is they’re heading for a total disaster.

People don’t do watermelon reporting with ill intent, they’re merely trying to avoid getting into trouble. Thankfully, there are some companies where “red” is merely a flag for help. But trust me, most companies don’t operate this way. Even better - there are many companies that don’t use the RAG status at all - and focus on deliverables and value - and real time metrics (we’ll come to that).

Watermelon reporting is a communication failure and it happens in many ways.

The official Leadership update, the reporting system, the ad-hoc conversation in a hallway (“Everything’s going well!”), the systems of record fudged with fake numbers, the excel spreadsheet modified to show green. It’s endemic.

Just another person with an opinion

I’m reminded of Edward Deming when it comes to Watermelon reporting. He said:

“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion”

Watermelon reporting is an opinion. It’s subjective. People often tell Leaders what they want to hear. People lie to avoid the consequences. People sometimes only see the positive. People hide. People assume the project can be recovered until the lie is found out.

It’s human nature.

And so, my recommendation is to communicate the truth. Early.

Sure, only you will know what the consequences are for reporting a "red" status on a project, but if you keep delaying speaking the truth, and you keep doing Watermelon reporting, it’s only going to get worse.

You may believe you can claw it all back and deliver before it’s too late, but I rarely see that.

Even better is to tie as much of the reporting as possible with data.

Let the data, stats and evidence do the talking - and ensure your RAG status matches reality. Talk to the evidence and real insights. It’s not easy connecting the dots in many work management systems, between investment, activity and real value delivered, but it is possible. Especially so if you're using a decent container of work with rules, or for those in Enterprise size companies - a good Portfolio Management system.

Tooling

Using suitable tooling, with real time metrics, measures and progress helps to avoid Watermelon reporting. (I say “helps” as in extremely toxic environments people will even fiddle the data from the reporting tools). You know longer need to provide a subjective RAG status - the data tells part of the picture.

Tools won't solve communication challenges on their own, but they can give you the data for a honest conversation.

Of course, I've worked with plenty if leaders, managers and portfolio or project leads that don't want the truth to be objective. They'd rather hide the reality. That's a poor behaviour that does nobody any favours in the long run.

Surely it's better to actually deliver value than hide the reality of poor delivery and shy away from asking for help?

If you’re a manager or leader, avoid using RAG status in the first place, if you can. Instead, take the time to get a portfolio system in place and suitable measures of progress. Get the data.

If you must use RAG ensure evidence is provided to support the colour choice. Try to avoid reporting being done through Powerpoints and reporting grids….they breed Watermelon reporting.

Use dashboards, insights and data feeds from the work tracking tool, the product, the customers, or whatever else is providing insights into value delivery.

Even better - go see for yourself.

When you ask people how things are going with a RAG element, you open the door for potential Watermelon reporting.

Truth

Communication in business should be specific, truthful and accurate. It’s important leaders start with this stance and weaken it depending on the challenges of gathering this data. Aim for data-informed and work down from there. Be careful not to become data-driven - where the data is taken on face value with no subjective narrative. A blend is essential. Let the data inform, let the narrative bring the data to life.

If you do have to use RAG, build a culture where “RED” is a flag for help, not a chance to reprimand someone.

Develop the behaviours and culture where not being honest about status has consequences.

Watermelon reporting seeds false hope, poor insights, lies and invalid timelines that result in decisions being made on subjective opinions. The result is always further delays, more cost, less value and weakening of relationships.

We’re all managing some form of project at work - and the 101 of project management (whether agile or anything else), is to reflect reality. What’s really happening? What are we struggling with? Are we delayed? And why?

Communicating honestly and openly avoids Watermelon reporting.

When we report accurately (and often), we get a chance to pivot, adapt, resource fully, make changes or at the very least, manage expectations. When we resort to Watermelon Reporting we open up a whole host of business, commercial, reputation and decision making risks.

Call out watermelon reporting. Find ways to avoid it. If you’re a manager or leader, insist on evidence and data-informed reporting.

If you ever work with me, you’ll find I always focus intently on Watermelon reporting - with the goal of removing it from the programmes and projects of work.

Communication problems in business are rampant, and watermelon reporting is a significant contributor. As the Stoics would say, the truth never hurt anyone.

Try to get the truth - this gives you a solid understanding of your current reality. This in turn will give you a known and understood place to take a solid next step.