Status Update: Yellow Dot, L, Up Arrow
This week I received a status dashboard report from the project manager of one of the customer projects that I’m working on.
One of the areas of the report was Key Open Issues and Risks. Seems like valid information to share. However the actual Status column of this Open Issues table completely baffles me. Take a look:
What does a status of Yellow Dot, L, Up Arrow mean? Or Red Dot, M, Down arrow ?
I’m sure this is some type of professional project management secret code, and I’m sure other PMPs may get it. But I’m on this project (I’m not a PMP by the way) – and I have no idea what this means! I like to think of myself as a pretty intelligent guy, but this one completely baffles me. I would think, that in a status report, that the status might be an important piece of information that everyone would want to know!
I’m a big fan of Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think book, and this is a good example of what he teaches us not to do. This project manager just made me completely stop, and think about what that status meant. Not only did I have to stop and think about it, but even after thinking about it, I couldn’t figure it out. Which renders that piece of information useless to me. Although Steve’s book focuses on usability of web sites, his teachings have influenced me in all areas of communication, including web sites, documentation, software applications, even the water dispenser we have in our office (one spicket is white, one is black – what does that tell you? )
Anyone know where I can get a project status report decoder ring?
