To distinguish one task from the next, colors are used. This could be the priority levels, who is assigned, or phases within a project. I wanted to see if task color played any role in task progression and completion in TeamGantt.
My findings were both interesting and quite surprising, I must admit.
Which color is most popular?
“Basic Blue”, the default task colour, is responsible for approximately 60% of all tasks created.
Seven colors, or almost half of them, are used less than 1%.
These are the loneliest colours, as 1 is the most lonely number.
“Beneficial Brown”
“Magnifying Magenta”
“Prolific Purple”
“Gainful Green”
“Outstanding Orange”
“Blissful Blue” and finally
“Pretty Pink”?
They have company.
Which color is more productive?
It’s fascinating to see which colors are used most often, but it’s even more fascinating to see how each color affects productivity and efficiency.
Although this is not a scientific analysis of how task colors affect productivity, millions upon millions have been scheduled and colored in Teamgantt.
Third place is “Rosy Red”, which is a common color used to mark important tasks. It’s the color with a lower average percent of completeness. This is quite interesting.
What does this mean? It means that it is less likely to receive progress updates for ALL colors.
This is why 78% of tasks marked “Rosy Red”, which are commonly used to indicate important tasks, are completely ignored and don’t even receive a progress update. It is strange to see that a color used so often to indicate important tasks is so easily ignored.
On the other hand, “Pretty Pink”, which is used less than 0.9% of the time, has the highest average percent of completion, more than twice that of “Rosy Red”.
It is the color most likely to be ignored, continuing the trend of being opposite “Rosy Red”. Tasks colored “Pretty Pink”, are more likely to receive progress updates and be marked as complete. This makes them the most productive colors.
Several other colors are also highly productive:
“Prolific Purple”
“Gainful Green”
“Great Green”
On the other hand, “Operation Orange”, “Productive Purple”, and “Golfer’s Green” are among the least productive color combinations alongside “Rosy Red”. Perhaps we should change the name “Productive Purple”
It is interesting to see that both the purples and two of the green shades are under- or over-performing the average.
Let’s dive a little deeper.
The colors with the highest performance tend to have a greater contrast between the task bar’s color and its progress bar. The contrast may help the task stand out more and thus be updated more often.
Could switching the task colors increase productivity in my team?
You might be asking yourself, “What does this all mean for me and my projects?”
It’s probably nothing, but it might be worth a try for your next project.
You can try changing the colors you use to more powerful colors to increase your productivity. The quickest and easiest way to make your tasks “Pretty Pink” is to switch from “Rosy red”.
Let’s hear from you: What task color do your projects use? Please share your favorites in comments!
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