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The Most Common Pitfalls in Executive Summaries

In the previous article we described how you can create a short and concise summary of the business document, research report or client proposal and give it to the reader as an 'executive summary'.

When formatting and building such an executive summary, you should avoid the following pitfalls. They are badly written and badly planned executive summaries, which can discourage your target audience.

How to Write a Good Executive Summary?

The information age has changed the way business plans, project proposals and research reports are distributed and consumed. Today, more and more readers are seeing this content digitally on a screen. And in today's fast-moving world, it is precisely this content that is often lacking. This method of content consumption increases the risk that important information is lost due to the scanning and scrolling behavior of an online audience.

It is therefore all the more important to create a short and concise summary of the document and give it to the reader as an 'executive summary'.

Merlin Project for iOS 5.1.11 Is Released

After some back and forth the version 5.1.10 for the iPad and the iPhone is now also available in the AppStore – but in this case as version 5.1.11.

The reason for the delay was the beta version of iOS 13, which is unfortunately still very unstable at the moment. Since Apple has already offered this version to many users as public beta, we had to find a way to support both iOS versions, the stable old one and the buggy new one.

In this context we recommend once again: Do not use beta versions in a productive environment!

With the release, everyone on iPad can finally use the new features:

• Resources can now be created by dragging contacts from the Contacts app onto Merlin Project.
• File attachments can now be created by dragging files from the Files app or photos from the Photos app onto activities in Merlin Project.

Of course a few issues have been fixed as well:

• Date cells in net plan cards sometimes showed unreadable duplicate text.
• The height of Gantt bars can now be reduced down to 2 points.
• The content of some user-defined fields could not be edited.

Merlin Project 5.1.10 Is Released

We have just released the version 5.1.10. This maintenance update is important for Merlin Project and Merlin Server.

• Update your Mac versions in Merlin Project for free with "Check for updates…".
• The version for the iPad and iPhone will be released after review in the App Store automatically.

We have also updated Merlin Project Express. The new versions will be provided in the Mac App Store or at SetApp – right after its review.

Writing a Good Statement of Work as Basis for The Project Plan

A common reason why parties argue in projects is due to failures to provide a properly drafted specification. As uncomplicated as it sounds, a Statement of Work (SOW) is not an easy task. But nothing is more fundamental to the success of a project. If it is too vague, too broad or too general, it leaves room for different interpretations, which can lead to difficulties along the way. This applies to internal projects and much more when suppliers are involved.

The following points will help you to create a good, efficient service description for your project: