With the usual mix of analysts, designers and implementers, one can assume that a proportional amount of analysis, design and implementation gets done every week. This can be confirmed in a weekly status meeting where every attendee is given five minutes to describe his or her specialty. However, it can be amazingly difficult to detect a slipping schedule in the status meeting venue.
Therefore: Collect status in regular personal interviews conducted at weekly intervals. Solicit days of remaining effort estimates using contrasts with Comparable Work.
Example:
Example Work Queue Report
"I put two full days into the new tax calculations, and one day with Joe on his U/I."
"How many uninterrupted days do you think you need to finish the calculations?"
"Oh, say two, It's no different from the accruals."
"And, working with Joe?"
"Well, we didn't get to the real work. I had three down last week? Must still be three days."
Use these estimates along with individual dilution factors (how many uninterrupted days of development does the individual have access to a week) to predict elapsed days to completion for each assigned deliverable. Compute and publish Completion Headroom from this data. Include a cover page with a few sentences explaining numbers that might have shifted in an interesting way.