The Green Dashboard
A project 2 years late, a dashboard that stayed green and the 2 pages that changed it.
A financial services group was 2 years behind on a major systems change and millions over budget. Every month the board reviewed a dashboard. Every month it was green.
The chair asked me to find out why the system would not launch. I spoke to people one to one and in confidence, from the chief operating officer to the staff who run branch compliance.
What the people doing the work knew
The software worked. But the new system would stop branch managers from overriding compliance checks. Without those overrides, they could not meet their daily loan targets.
The operations lead knew. He could not say so, because the board had already announced the launch date. So he kept asking the supplier for small changes that pushed the launch back.
Nobody was lying. Everybody was hiding.
What changed
I gave the chair 2 pages. Their message was simple: your technology is ready, but your targets and your compliance rules cannot both be met.
The board changed the branch targets and told the operations lead he could speak without risk. The system launched 3 months later.
3 questions to ask of your own dashboard
What would have to be true for this to turn red?
If nobody can answer, the colour is measuring the report, not the project.
Who loses something by reporting this early?
That person is where the filter starts. Make it cost them nothing to speak.
When did we last hear it from the people doing the work?
Not from their manager. From them.
The client is not named. Shared with their permission.
Does this sound like your organisation?
Bring it as you see it. One 30-minute call is enough to know whether it needs a closer look.