Running an architecture project without tracking progress metrics is like driving cross-country without a fuel gauge. You might make it. You probably won't.

Project progress tracking answers three questions at any point during a project: Are we on schedule? Are we on budget? Are we making money? Each question has its own set of metrics, and understanding how they connect is what separates reactive project management from proactive decision-making.

For schedule and budget, earned value management (EVM) provides the framework. EVM compares planned work against completed work and actual costs to produce indicators like schedule variance (SV) and cost variance (CV). A negative cost variance means you've spent more than the value of work completed. A negative schedule variance means you've completed less work than planned. These numbers give you early warning signals while there's still time to correct course.

For fees and revenue, metrics like work in progress (WIP), billing breakdowns, and project profitability tell you whether the project is financially healthy. WIP tracks billable work that hasn't been invoiced yet. The billing breakdown shows how much has been paid versus what's outstanding. Profitability compares total revenue against total costs, and you should be measuring it during the project, not just after it's done.

On the PjM exam, expect scenarios where you're given a set of project metrics and asked to evaluate what's going wrong, or to recommend the next management action. You won't just calculate a number. You'll interpret it in context and decide what to do about it.