Adding color to your roadmap items enhances readability by creating visual distinctions between levels or types of items. You can color any main item type (objectives, initiatives, releases, or features) on timelines and columns boards.
In this article:
- Color coding options
- How to color code
- Example use cases
- Rebuilding objective themes from Legacy boards
- See also
Color coding options
Color coding is available on timelines and columns boards. The main item type of the board (that is, the first item type you select in the Items section of the Board controls menu) is the item type that will be color coded. that means you can color objectives, initiatives, releases, or features by any of the following field types:
- Health: Mark items as “On track,” “At risk,” or “Blocked.”
- Single-select custom fields: For example, priority levels like “High,” “Medium,” and “Low.”
- Multi-select custom fields: Group items based on categories.
- Status: Track the progress of items (e.g., “In progress,” “Planned,” or “Completed”).
- Tasks: Identify items based on associated task completion.
How to color code
Follow these steps to set up color coding on your roadmap:
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Navigate to a timeline or columns board.
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Click Configure in the top-right corner of your roadmap.
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Click Color [main item type] by.
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Select the field type you’d like to use for color coding.
Your roadmap will instantly reflect the selected color scheme!
Example use cases
Color coding provides flexibility for various scenarios, making your roadmaps more intuitive and actionable. Here are a few ways you can use it:
- Investment Bucket Overview
Visualize your roadmap with investment buckets by creating them as multi-select custom fields. For example, group your items into categories like “Tech Debt,” “Feature Development,” and “Customer Experience.”
- Executive Dashboard
Highlight the health of your initiatives by choosing to color code by health. This makes it easier for executives to see which items are “On track,” “At risk,” or “Blocked.”
- Execution Board
Color by tasks to understand where each item stands in the delivery process. This view can help your team focus on bottlenecks or incomplete phases.
Rebuilding objective themes from Legacy boards
If you use objective themes to color code your objectives on Legacy roadmaps, you may want to do the same on New boards. While themes don't exist on New boards, you can create an equivalent system using custom fields without too much work:
- Create a custom single-select field where each value represents one of your themes. (If you have the ability to associate custom fields with specific item types, consider limiting this field to objectives to reduce field noise.)
- Create a grid board where the main items are objectives and add as a column the custom field you just created. Go through your objectives and make sure each one is assigned the correct theme.
- Open the timeline or columns board you're using to visualize your objectives.
- Click Configure > Color objectives by [your newly-created custom field].
See also
- Organize your timelines and columns boards with swimlanes
- Providing health updates for your features
- Track tasks for each feature