If you’re running onboarding, implementation, or any project-driven team, you know the drill: everyone wants to know how the team’s doing, but getting a straight answer is harder than it should be. Enter Rocketlane, the project delivery platform with built-in reporting features. This guide’s for team leads, project managers, and ops folks who want to actually use Rocketlane’s reports to get a handle on team performance. No fluffy dashboards, no vanity metrics—just what works, what doesn’t, and how to get real insights you can act on.
Step 1: Get Clear About What You Want to Measure
Before you even open up Rocketlane’s reporting tab, ask yourself: what does “team performance” actually mean for you? This sounds basic, but it’ll save you from staring at charts that don’t matter.
Common things teams look to measure: - Project completion times (are we on track?) - Task completion rates (are things getting stuck?) - Team member workload and utilization - Customer satisfaction (are clients happy at the end?) - Bottlenecks or blockers (what’s slowing us down?)
Pro tip: Don’t try to track everything at once. Focus on one or two metrics that actually tie to business outcomes. Fancy charts don’t impress anyone if they don’t help you improve.
Step 2: Get Familiar With Rocketlane’s Reporting Tools
Rocketlane has a bunch of reporting options, but not all are equally useful for team performance. Here’s the lay of the land:
The Essentials
- Projects Dashboard: High-level view—status, due dates, owners.
- Task Reports: Drill down into who’s doing what, and what’s overdue.
- People Reports: Tracks individual/team workload and utilization.
- Custom Reports: Build-your-own dashboards (honestly, only use these if the basics aren’t cutting it).
What’s Actually Useful
- People Reports are your friend for team performance. They show each team member’s assignments, overdue tasks, and bandwidth.
- Task Reports help you spot bottlenecks—see where tasks pile up or get stuck.
- CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) Reports, if you collect feedback, will show how well your team is delivering from the client’s perspective.
What to Ignore (for Now)
- Budget/Financial Reports: Unless you’re measured on billable hours, skip these for team performance.
- Project Templates Analytics: Useful for process improvement, but not for real-time performance tracking.
Step 3: Set Up Your Reports
Here’s how to set up the basics without making a mess.
A. People Performance Report
- Go to Reporting → People.
- Filter by date range (last week, month, etc.).
- Filter by team or role if your org is big.
- Review columns: Completed Tasks, Overdue Tasks, Assigned Projects, Utilization.
What to look for: - Who’s overloaded (high assigned, high overdue) - Who’s cruising (low assigned, high completion) - Who’s at risk of burnout (high utilization, consistently high overdue)
Don’t get hung up on hourly utilization unless you’re billing clients for every minute. Focus on outcomes, not busyness.
B. Task Completion & Bottleneck Report
- Go to Reporting → Tasks.
- Filter by status (overdue, in progress, blocked).
- Group by owner or project.
- Sort by due date or priority.
What to look for: - Tasks that are routinely overdue (patterns matter more than one-offs) - Steps in your process where things slow down - Projects that are always behind—dig into why
C. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Report
If you’re using Rocketlane’s CSAT feature:
- Go to Reporting → CSAT.
- Filter by project type or team member.
- Look for trends (is one team member consistently getting low scores? Are certain project types always problematic?)
Remember: CSAT is noisy. One unhappy client doesn’t mean your team’s failing. Look for patterns, not isolated incidents.
Step 4: Make Your Dashboards Actually Actionable
Dashboards are only useful if you do something with them. Here’s how to avoid dashboard theater:
- Pick 2-3 core metrics to track every week. Example: On-time task completion rate and average CSAT score.
- Set a regular time—ideally in your team meeting—to review the numbers.
- Don’t just read out stats. Ask: What’s going well? What needs attention? If nobody cares about a metric, stop tracking it.
Pro tip: Don’t make it a blame game. Focus on trends and process fixes, not individuals.
Step 5: Share Insights, Not Just Numbers
A big mistake: dumping data on your team and expecting them to care. Instead:
- Translate numbers into plain English. “We’re finishing 80% of tasks on time, but onboarding projects are taking two weeks longer than planned. Let’s dig into why.”
- Call out wins. If team members consistently finish ahead of schedule, let them know it’s noticed.
- Ask for feedback. Sometimes a bad stat just means your process doesn’t fit reality.
If your team rolls their eyes at your reports, they’re probably not useful.
Step 6: Iterate—Don’t Get Stuck in Reporting Hell
Rocketlane’s reporting features are pretty flexible, but you can easily spend hours tweaking dashboards no one looks at. Here’s what to do instead:
- Start simple. One report per use case.
- Review monthly. Are you actually using the info to improve? If not, cut what’s not working.
- Automate where possible. Set up scheduled email reports for your key dashboards.
- Stay skeptical. Just because Rocketlane lets you track it doesn’t mean you should.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Watch Out For
What Works: - People Reports surface team workload issues fast. - Task Reports point out process bottlenecks, so you can fix them. - CSAT Reports can flag unhappy customers before things blow up.
What Doesn’t: - Tracking too many metrics. You’ll drown in data, and nobody will act on it. - Using reporting to micromanage. People game the system or get burned out. - Relying solely on Rocketlane data. Sometimes the real issue is outside the tool.
Watch Out For: - Metric creep: Don’t keep adding reports just because you can. - Vanity metrics: “Number of projects started” means nothing if half never finish. - Outdated data: Make sure your team actually updates task statuses, or your reports will lie.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
You don’t need a PhD in analytics to use Rocketlane’s reporting features. Pick a couple of metrics that matter, check them regularly, and use what you learn to tweak your process. Ignore the rest. Over time, you’ll get a feel for what’s actually useful—and your team will thank you for not making them stare at another pointless chart.
The real goal isn’t a prettier dashboard. It’s less fire-fighting and more time spent actually delivering for your customers. Start small, keep it real, and adjust as you go.