Stop 4 of 9 · Weekly
The monthly narrative
Update facts into the narrative the owner accepts first time, with the line between what you state and what you reserve drawn on purpose.
The format is not yours to choose
Most agencies write the narrative into the specification: progress since the last update, activities started and completed, changes to logic and durations with reasons, current forecast, delays and their causes, planned work for the next period. Karim does not redesign that. He fills it exactly, in the same order, with the same headings, because a narrative that arrives in the owner's shape gets read instead of returned.
A returned narrative costs two weeks. The reasons are boringly consistent: a heading missing, a change to logic reported with no reason, a forecast date that does not match the export it came with, or a sentence of argument in a document that is supposed to describe. Fix those four and the narrative stops coming back.
State, or reserve
Two columns, and every sentence lands in one of them.
| State it | Reserve on it |
|---|---|
| Actual dates, activity IDs, quantities from the record | Any cause where the analysis is not finished |
| Changes made to the schedule, with the reason the contractor gave | Any impact not yet run through a time impact analysis |
| Documents issued and received, with numbers and dates | The projected completion date, where it is disputed |
| Weather days recorded against the contract threshold | Anything counsel has not yet seen |
[upload the current update export and paste the change register from this month's comparison] Draft the May narrative for Contract C-1149 in the order the specification in this Project requires, using its headings exactly. Use only facts from the export, the register and the logs in the files here. Every sentence that reports a change carries the activity ID and the reason the contractor recorded. Do not state a cause for any delay, do not attribute responsibility to any party, and do not state a float value or a day count. Where a fact is missing, write the sentence with a bracketed gap naming the document I need. End with the reservation paragraph.
Read my draft narrative and mark every sentence that states a conclusion rather than a fact. For each one, quote the sentence, say which document would have to exist for it to be a fact, and give me a replacement sentence that states only what I can show. Then list anything I have reported this month that I should be reserving on.
[upload the update export and my draft narrative] Check the narrative against the export line by line. List every date, activity ID, duration and completion date in the narrative that does not match the export, showing both values. Then list anything the specification requires the narrative to cover that my draft does not mention. Do not rewrite anything, just give me the two lists.
From the narrative, write the internal note for the project team: what changed, what we are watching, which notice clocks are running and how many days are left on each. Blunt, no reservations, no letter tone. This one does not leave the office.