Project Health Check: is your software project in trouble?

Answer 30 short questions about schedule, budget, team, code, communication, requirements and who owns the access. In five minutes you get a green, yellow or red verdict, a score for each area and a 14-day action plan.

Free · 5 minutes · no signup · your answers are not stored

Not an audit of any vendor. This is a self-assessment based on your own answers. It is not an audit and not an assessment of any named vendor, team or person. We do not ask for, collect or store the name of your contractor.

Project Health Check — is your software project in trouble?

A little context first

Only the role is required. The rest adjusts the questions and the next steps; it does not change the score.

What we check

Six areas that decide whether a software project ends well. Each has four or five factual questions — about what happens, not about how you feel. Plus a separate check of access and ownership: it is not part of the score, but it can stop a project from being green.

  • Schedule

    Whether releases land when agreed and whether you can see working software.

    Example: How far is the next release or milestone behind the agreed plan?

  • Budget

    Whether money spent matches progress you have accepted, and whether the cost to finish is known.

    Example: Compared with the plan, how much more have you spent for the progress achieved?

  • Team

    Turnover, key-person risk, real capacity and experience with the hard parts.

    Example: How many key people left or were replaced in the last 3 months?

  • Code & tech debt

    Who controls the code, how it is built, tested and released, and whether anyone has looked inside.

    Example: Does your company control the source code repository?

  • Communication

    How often you see progress, how early you hear about problems and whether reports match reality.

    Example: How often do you get a status report or a demo?

  • Product & requirements

    Written requirements, scope stability, a decision-maker on your side and a measurable goal.

    Example: Are requirements and acceptance criteria written down and current?

  • Access & ownership

    Who owns the domain, servers, store and service accounts, the IP in the code and the milestone sign-offs.

    Example: Whose name are the domain, hosting and cloud accounts in?

How the score works

  1. A score for each area

    Every answer is worth 0 to 3 points of risk, and more important questions weigh more. Each area gets a score from 0 to 100; the total is a weighted average of the six areas. 75 and above is green, 50–74 yellow, below 50 red.

  2. One disaster is not averaged away

    An average can hide a single catastrophe, so safeguards apply on top: no access to the code, nothing working to look at, money paid far ahead of accepted work or no updates for weeks are critical signs. One critical sign or one very weak area means the project cannot be green; two of either make it red. Stop signals on access and ownership work the same way: for example, the domain and hosting are not yours, or the vendor keeps the IP in the code.

  3. “I don't know” is an answer

    Not knowing is counted as a medium risk, not as “fine”. If you don't know half of an area, it is marked “not enough data” and the project cannot be green. With fewer than four areas answered we give no verdict at all.

What to do if the result is red

  • Secure access to the code and hosting. Administrator rights, in writing, this week — whatever happens next.
  • Ask for a demo of the working build. On a shared screen within five working days.
  • Pause prepayments. Pay only for milestones accepted against written criteria.
  • Get an independent review. It takes days and makes the choice — recover, restructure or hand over — factual.

We can fix it for you: code review and modernization, senior engineers to strengthen your team or a dedicated team to take the project over.

Read more: how to plan a software project, why estimates miss and red flags in a development contract.

FAQ

What does the Project Health Check measure?

Six areas that decide whether a software project ends well: schedule, budget, team, code and tech debt, communication, product and requirements, plus a separate check of access and ownership. You answer 30 factual questions and get a score per area, an overall green, yellow or red verdict, a recommended scenario and a 14-day action plan.

Is this an audit or a verdict on my vendor?

No. This is a self-assessment based on your own answers. It is not an audit and not an assessment of any named vendor, team or person. We do not ask for, collect or store the name of your contractor.

Are my answers stored or shared?

No. The score is calculated in your browser, and the answers live only in this tab until you close it. If you request the full plan, the request contains only the codes of your answers and the result, plus the contact details you enter.

How is the score calculated and who decided the weights?

Each answer adds 0 to 3 points of risk, weighted by how much the question matters; each area gets 0–100 and the total is a weighted average. Safeguards stop a single critical problem from being averaged away. The weights and thresholds are a working proposal based on our delivery experience and are being calibrated on real projects.

My result is red — what should I do first?

Secure administrator access to the code and hosting, ask for a live demo of the working build within five days, and pause prepayments until the next milestone is accepted. Then get an independent review and decide: continue with a recovery plan, restructure, or hand over to another team.

Can I use it for an in-house team?

Yes. Choose “Our own team” in the context step: questions that only make sense with an external vendor — payments ahead of accepted work, change requests, access to the code, reports versus reality — are hidden and not counted.

Who should fill it in — the owner or the project manager?

Ideally both, separately. Where the owner and the project manager answer differently, that difference is a finding in itself.

Can YuSMP take over or rescue a project?

Yes. It starts with an independent review of the code, the plan and the remaining scope; we sign your NDA first if needed. After that you decide whether to recover the project with the current team, restructure it or hand it over.

Why is access and ownership checked separately?

Because it decides whether you can change course at all. If the domain, hosting, store accounts or the IP in the code stay with the vendor, switching teams is slow and risky, however good the rest looks. Access is not part of the score, but one stop signal (for example, no access to the hosting or no IP assignment in the contract) keeps the project from being green, and two make it red.

What is in the 14-day action plan?

What to do tomorrow (usually access, money and a working build), what to do in the first week (the answers that pull the score down and, if needed, a code review) and what to do in the second week (recover the weakest area), with a decision checkpoint on day 14. You see the plan on screen and get it as a PDF by email.

Five minutes now can save months later

30 questions, no signup, your answers stay in your browser.

Check my project

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Self-assessment, not an audit. Not legal or financial advice. Pricing · Software modernization · Staff augmentation · Dedicated teams