Issue Logs in Project Management

Issue log is a project artifact categorized as log and register artifacts, it is generally used in project work performance domain.

An issue log is the project management artifact that is used for monitoring and recording the necessary information about ongoing issues. The events and factors under discussion or in dispute between project stakeholders are handled by using an issue log. An issue log ensures that the ongoing issues in the project are tracked by the project team and are under control. Project issue log is a very useful artifact, especially for risk and issue management process.

Issue logs are directly related to troubles. Trouble is everywhere in our everyday lives. Problems serve the same purpose in project management as they do in real life. Accordingly, a problem is any situation that arises nowadays. A project issue occurs when these conditions have an effect on the project goals.

Issue management in project management is of almost vital importance. Because unsolved issues have a great possibility to negatively affecting project outcomes. The issue resolution process should be planned in a detailed way and project issues should be tracked carefully.

Documentation and accountability are two important things to take care of in order to complete a project successfully and to achieve expected value delivery. The issue log is a live document that should be kept updated during a project’s lifecycle. Any new issues are identified, issues are communicated with the project team and stakeholders of a project by using an issue log

 Like most other project documentation, the issue log should be reviewed by the project team regularly to ensure issues are being resolved.  The document should be updated and communicated to all project stakeholders as updates are made.

In a project issue log generally, the following information is given but they are not limited to them;

  • The name of the issue,
  • Description of the issue,
  • Category,
  • Priority,
  • Reporting source,
  • Responsible person to deal with the issue,
  • Current status of the issue,
  • Endnotes,


In project management it can be a useful input in many areas of project work performance domain, it can be used while identifying stakeholders. Right stakeholders can be extracted from the issue log. Also, it is useful while identifying risks of the project as well as performing a qualitative risk analysis, managing and controlling quality. It should be communicated efficiently in order to make all stakeholders and the project team informed about the ongoing issues.

An issue log is also very useful to be used in monitoring and controlling processes for measurement purposes. Especially while thinking about possible solutions and corrective actions, you have to know the ongoing issues very well to plan a good response to align the project on its track again.

See also;

Assumption Log

Change Log

Risk Adjusted Backlog

Comments:
1- George 01.01.2022
Have a good year. Assumption logs, issue logs, change logs all are useful and it is good to see them explained here.
2-Pmtype 18.02.2022
Thanks for the information.

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