A status colour you can argue with
Every indicator traces to a number and states the threshold that produced it. Overall is the worst of its parts. The narrative is yours — nothing here is written for you.
A status report where every colour traces to a number
Indicators are derived and state their thresholds. The narrative is yours and is never generated.
Milestones
Open risks and issues
Milestones
How the indicators are derived
variance = (forecast − planned) ÷ planned, for both schedule and cost. Green below the amber threshold, amber between, red above the red threshold.
Overall is the worst of its parts, and cannot be talked up. A milestone forecast late or an open high-severity risk pushes it off green regardless of what the other indicators say.
Thresholds are yours. A 5% schedule variance is serious on a two-week sprint and noise on a three-year programme, so the defaults are meant to be changed.
No narrative is generated. The indicators say what is happening; only you can say what it means.
Why the colour must trace to something
A status colour chosen by feel is the mechanism by which a project reports green for three months and then slips a quarter. Nobody lies; each individual judgement is defensible; and the aggregate is a fiction.
An indicator derived from numbers, showing the threshold that produced it, can be argued with. That is the point — a report that cannot be challenged cannot be trusted either.
Overall cannot be talked up
The most common corruption is an overall status better than its components: two ambers and a red producing an overall amber because the conversation was difficult. Here the overall is the worst of its parts, and a late milestone or open high risk pushes it off green on its own.
A report with no ask is not a report
If the project is not green and nothing is being asked of the reader, you have told someone about a problem they cannot help with. That is a briefing, and it trains people to skim.
The decisions section is where a status report earns its place: this is what I need from you, this week, to keep this on track.