One of the most useless project management conventions I have ever worked with is the status stoplight or RAG status. From a simplicity perspective, it is designed to convey a general state of the project. Green means things are “OK”. Amber means things aren’t that OK. Red means things are not OK at all. The convention is to get the attention of stakeholders when the status changes from green to amber to red. It is a beacon, or warning signal that something needs to change.
