IDG Contributor Network: The problem with how we measure project progress

"I'm 92 percent done with my project tasks."
Have you ever heard that statement made by your project team members?
As project managers we often live and die by the percent complete of the tasks on our project schedules.  We obsess over them and compare the tasks to the calendar dates. Are we as far along as we should be?  Is my assigned resource making progress?  And what, exactly, does 43 percent complete really mean?  What does it look like?  If you're me it looks abo