Not long ago, when a supplier gave me a timeline for his service, I felt confident the work would be done, and done in an orderly way. Why? Because he gave me a timeline detailing the individual steps he’d be taking, and what dates he expected to complete them.  His timeline made me think he knew what he was doing.

Here’s another situation: You have to make a report to a client about a series of developments that have taken place since the client came on board two months ago. Not only should the report help the client understand what’s been done, but should also show the sequence in which the tasks were done.

In a situation like this, you’ll find a formal timeline helpful. A timeline refers to a chronological list of events or developments. It can show hours, days, months, or years, according to your needs, and might look something like this:

• October 1: initial meeting to discuss objectives
• October 9: preliminary list of objectives presented
• October 17: meeting to prepare short-list
• October 24: final ranking of top three objectives
• October 26: work started on Objective #1

What we’ve done here is to make the dates (or times) the focus of the report. Alternatively, you might create a report that lists your accomplishments, that focuses on the people involved, or some other relevant factor.

Timelines, when appropriate, have a number of benefits. They allow us to show that, as this example does, that one thing has to follow another. Looking at the example above, we could show why we didn’t start work on Objective #1 for almost a month after the initial meeting.

We can also use them to suggest we took a logical and methodical approach to a project. Without saying so explicitly, a timeline implies that we’ve considered the work that needs to be done, that prerequisites have been considered, and that we’re aware of deadlines.

With all of these elements working in favor of the provider (whether that’s you or someone supplying you), there’s reason for confidence. And tools that boost confidence belong in every writer’s communication tool kit.