Duration: 30--40 minutes

## Definition

**Project health** is a concise assessment of whether a project is
likely to achieve its agreed outcome within its current commitments.

A common model is:

-   **Green:** on track; no material intervention required.
-   **Yellow:** at risk; attention or corrective action is needed.
-   **Red:** off track or blocked; significant intervention or decision
    is required.

## Simple Mental Model

> **Project health answers: Do I need to worry or intervene?**

Green does not mean people are busy. It means the evidence supports
confidence in delivery.

## How It Works

Health should consider:

-   Next milestone and target
-   Current forecast
-   Scope stability
-   Dependencies
-   Risks/issues
-   Capacity
-   Quality/acceptance
-   Decisions required

Yellow should be an early-warning state, not a punishment.

Example:

Umami's production validation is due Aug 20. Development is complete,
but DevOps now expects the environment Aug 18 and QA needs four days.
The deadline has not passed, but the project is already **Yellow**.

Do not wait until Aug 21 to discover the problem.

## How It Fits Into the Bigger Picture

Milestones provide checkpoints. Dependencies and risks explain threats.
Forecasting predicts delivery. Health compresses those signals into a
portfolio-level indicator.

## My Company / Real-World Context

Your Monday board currently shows execution status, but your management
need is closer to:

``` text
Umami              Yellow
Supabase            Green
Mogador             Red
QA Automation       Green
Data Governance     Yellow
```

Then you focus your attention on Yellow and Red rather than opening
every project.

## CTO Perspective

Health indicators enable **management by exception**. But the colors
must be trustworthy.

If owners keep projects Green until failure is undeniable, the system is
useless. Make early Yellow reporting useful rather than treating it as
failure.

### Questions to Ask

-   What is the next milestone?
-   Is the forecast still credible?
-   What is the biggest risk?
-   Is scope stable?
-   Are dependencies committed?
-   What specifically would return Yellow to Green?
-   Does this need my intervention?

## Meeting Scenario

**Situation:** A project owner reports Green because no deadline has
been missed, but a critical vendor deliverable has no confirmed date.

**Possible response:**

> I would mark this Yellow. Health should reflect whether we're likely
> to hit the commitment, not only whether we've already missed it. What
> action will give us confidence in the vendor dependency?

## Key Takeaways

-   Health is forward-looking.
-   Green/Yellow/Red need shared definitions.
-   Yellow is an early-warning state.
-   Percent complete is not project health.
-   Health should reflect milestones, risks, dependencies, scope, and
    forecast.
-   Reliable health enables management by exception.

## Related Concepts

-  [[Milestones vs Tasks]]
-  [[Risk Management]]
-  [[Dependencies]]
-  [[Status Reporting]]
-  [[Portfolio Management]]