When a friend had surgery, I was still informed about every step of his progress even though I was hours away. I received frequent text messages from the hospital, such as: “The patient is being prepped for surgery,” “The patient is in the operating room,” and “The patient is in recovery.”
Surgical patients aren’t the only thing being tracked these days. It is common to have access to real-time information about the status of most things: children’s grades in school, baggage checked with the airlines, location of people through “Find My”-type apps, what mail is coming today, online orders, and pizza or package delivery times. I know more about where that box coming from Amazon is than I do about where car keys are (although, with a Tile device I could track that, too).
The availability of tracking information used to be a bonus or distinguishing feature, but it is coming close to being an expectation. Your organization needs to embrace ways to keep your clients informed as to the status of your work for them — preferably with real-time access. “Where’s Waldo?” was a fun phenomenon in the 1990s, but “Where’s My Project?” isn’t an option in 2023.
