Is my Project Healthy?

When you are running a project, you constantly need to be considering the health of your project. And, having a solid operational definition provides consistency to leadership on the health of all projects.

My teams define and agree upon a standard definition for project health. Then, everyone is accountable for keeping the field accurately updated. This value is utilized to drive dashboard metrics and leadership reporting to easily identify those projects that needed leadership attention. Below is my base Framework for project Health.

Green	​Project is proceeding as planned and any challenges are being handled by the team.
Indicators	Project remains on-schedule, on-budget, resources engaged, achieving scope, with high-quality deliverables. Team is able to address any challenges. Project will meet agreed upon leadership expectations.

Yellow	Project is struggling and at risk of meeting plan requiring leadership involvement.
Indicators	Resources are not properly engaged in project activities. Completed deliverables are delayed, low quality, or not what is expected. Disagreements on future planned deliverables. Concerns on achieving key project milestone dates. Budgeted costs occurring faster than planned.
Actions	Engage Leadership Increase resource engagement and accountability. Review budgeted costs, amount utilized, and estimate remaining requirements per the current plan. Clarify deliverables and expectations.
Outcome	Once issues are resolved and the project is back on plan, then the status is moved to Green. If issues are not resolved and the current plan will not be met, then the status is moved to Red.

Red	Project will not achieve the agreed upon plan and requires leadership to authorize an updated plan.
Indicators	Project team and Leadership agree the current plan (schedule, budget, scope, or quality) cannot be achieved.
Actions	Develop a revised plan (schedule, budget, resources, and/or scope) in order to achieve the expected quality deliverable. Obtain leadership approval.
Outcome	Once leadership approves the new plan, the project is moved to Green. Expect closer oversight by Leadership to ensure the revised plan stays on track.

Gray	No project activity
Indicators	Project is Completed, Cancelled, or On-Hold.

Having a well defined and utilized project health lets leadership know when & where to get engaged.

Leadership involvement in Yellow & Red health projects will actually vary based on project priority.

Urgent and High priority projects typically have more leadership oversight & engagement. This is due to a higher level of accountability & responsibility leaders have because these projects typically have higher costs, needed timeline, necessary to hit organizational goals, etc. Therefore, if the project won't meet the plan, leadership must engage quickly to either help achieve the original plan or be involved in replanning.

Medium and Low priority projects typically will not get as much leadership attention since the projects may not be as critical to achieving organizational goals or have minimal/no cost impact. Leadership may expect an experienced Project Manager to use their judgement to address the situation and engage Leadership as needed -- to either inform or consult about changes to the plan.

How do you define project Health? What would you change based on your business needs?

So, what's your Framework?