Health
Nobody types “at risk” into SRP. Health is computed from the work itself. You cannot set it by hand, and it cannot go stale.
The four values
Section titled “The four values”| Health | Meaning |
|---|---|
| On track | Nothing under it is late, blocked, unowned or stale. |
| At risk | Something under it needs attention before it becomes a miss. |
| Critical | The promise is failing, or the plan cannot fit the team’s time. |
| Unknown | Not computed yet, or the object has nothing to be measured against. |
Where health lives
Section titled “Where health lives”Iterations, work items and initiatives have health. Projects do not. Tasks show a health badge in scoped views (a project, an iteration, My Work), but they do not carry reasons: the cause is already on the row (the due date, the assignee).
Reasons on work items
Section titled “Reasons on work items”A work item’s health comes with reasons. Each reason names a condition and, when the cause is a linked entity, which one.
| Reason | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Overdue | Past its own due date. |
| Due soon | Due within the lead time for its effort size. |
| No owner | Nobody is assigned. |
| Owner inactive | The assignee has left the team. Weighs like no owner. |
| Stale | No activity for too long. |
| No due date | Has no date to be measured against. |
| Blocked by | Another entity blocks it, and that entity is still open. |
| Won’t fit | The effort will not fit before the due date at the assignee’s pace, with their leave and the company calendar counted. |
| Linked overdue, linked due soon, linked no owner, linked blocked, linked owner inactive | The same conditions, on something linked under this work item. The reason names which one. |
Reasons on initiatives
Section titled “Reasons on initiatives”An initiative inherits the worst health of its work items. On top of that, it has three conditions of its own:
| Reason | Effect |
|---|---|
| Scope creep | Work was added after the plan was set. At risk. |
| Over capacity | The open work exceeds the team’s available time before the target date. Critical. |
| Tight capacity | The work fits, but only by using the capacity slack. A warning. Does not change health. |
Iteration health
Section titled “Iteration health”Iteration health is computed live each time you load the dashboard. It has no reasons. Inputs: elapsed percentage of the time-box, completion percentage, overdue count, blocked count, and the capacity verdict.
- Time-box over and not 100 percent complete: critical.
- Elapsed minus completion of 25 points or more: critical. 10 or more: at risk.
- Overdue and blocked tasks together: critical. Either alone: at risk.
- Team over capacity: on track becomes at risk.