Mission Control

Once you are running more than a couple of projects, opening each one to find out how it is going stops working. Mission Control is the view across them.

Who this is for

Delivery and operations leads.

Before you start

• Projects with real tasks and dates on them — the overview is only as good as the projects underneath.
• Permission to read projects.

An overview inherits its inputs
Everything here is computed from the projects beneath it — health from overdue, blocked, stale, schedule-slip and budget signals. A project whose tasks are undated or unassigned contributes a misleadingly healthy picture. Fix the projects and the overview becomes trustworthy on its own.

Use the overview

1. Scan for what is not green
   The point of an overview is exception-finding. Start with anything flagged at risk or off track.
2. Read the signal, not just the colour
   At-risk because of budget is a different conversation from at-risk because of overdue tasks.
3. Open the project that needs attention
   The overview tells you where to look; the project record tells you what is actually happening.
4. Check it on a rhythm
   A weekly pass is usually enough. Checking daily turns it into noise; checking monthly means finding out too late.
5. Fix the inputs when the picture looks wrong
   If a project you know is struggling shows healthy, the tasks underneath are probably undated or unassigned.

What you get

• Delivery across all projects in one place.
• Exceptions surfaced rather than hunted for.
• A reason for the flag, not just a colour.
• A weekly rhythm that catches problems while they are still cheap.

Frequently asked questions

Why does a struggling project show as healthy?

Because health is computed from task-level signals. Undated or unassigned tasks produce no overdue or slip signal, so the project looks fine. Fix the tasks.

How often should I look at it?

Weekly for most teams. Frequently enough to catch a slip early, rarely enough that it does not become background noise.

What does at-risk actually mean?

That one or more signals fired — overdue work, blocked work, stale work, schedule slip or budget. Read which one before deciding what to do.

Is this the same as project health?

Health is per project. Mission Control is the view across all of them, built from those same health signals.