Your First Outcome

This tutorial walks you through the full Joyous workflow end-to-end — from defining a goal to tracking completed work. In about ten minutes, you'll create an outcome, let AI break it into work cards, commit those cards to a sprint, and watch progress roll in.

Step 1: Create an outcome

Start by defining what you want to achieve.

1. Open the Outcomes page

   Click Outcomes in the sidebar to see all your organization's outcomes.

2. Click New Outcome

   Hit the New Outcome button at the top of the page.

3. Write your goal

   Enter a clear, measurable goal. For this tutorial, try something like: "Launch the redesigned landing page by end of month." The goal is the north star for everything that follows.

4. Add context and directives

   In the context field, describe the background — "We're refreshing our brand and need the new landing page to reflect the updated design system." Add directives for constraints like "Must be mobile-responsive" or "Use the new component library."

5. Define success signals

   Add one or more success signals that describe what done looks like: "Page loads under 2 seconds," "Passes accessibility audit," "Approved by design lead." These help the team and AI understand your quality bar.

Step 2: Use AI Decompose

Instead of manually listing every task, let the AI agent analyze your outcome and suggest work cards.

1. Click the AI button

   On your outcome's detail page, click the AI button (sparkle icon) in the header. A dropdown menu appears with available actions.

2. Select 'Break into work cards'

   Choose Break into work cards to start the decompose action. The AI reads your goal, context, directives, and success signals, then generates a set of suggested work cards.

3. Review the suggestions

   The AI panel opens with a grid of suggested cards. Each card includes a name, goal description, estimated effort (like "2 hours" or "1 day"), and any dependencies on other cards. Click Preview on any card to see the full details.

Step 3: Accept the cards

You have full control over which suggestions become real work cards.

• Click Accept on individual cards you want to keep
• Click Accept All to add every suggestion at once
• Click Dismiss to clear suggestions you don't need

Accepted cards are immediately created as work cards under your outcome, starting in Backlog status. You can edit their goals, add document content, or reassign them after accepting.

Step 4: Create a sprint and commit cards

Now organize your cards into a time-boxed sprint.

1. Navigate to Sprints

   Click Sprints in the sidebar and then New Sprint.

2. Set your dates

   Give your sprint a name like "Landing Page Sprint 1" and set a start and end date — two weeks is a solid default.

3. Commit cards to the sprint

   Add work cards from your outcome to the sprint. Focus on what the team can realistically finish within the timeframe.

4. Activate the sprint

   When planning is done, activate the sprint to signal that work has begun. Card statuses shift from Backlog to Committed.

Step 5: Track progress

As your team works through the sprint, progress flows up from cards to the outcome automatically.

• Move cards to Done as work is completed — the outcome's progress percentage updates in real time
• Post health updates on the outcome to communicate status to stakeholders: On Track, At Risk, or Off Track
• When the sprint wraps up, close it to capture a snapshot of what was accomplished

Next Steps

• Creating Outcomes — Explore all outcome fields and configuration options
• AI Decompose — Learn more about how AI breaks down goals into work
• Sprints — Deep dive into sprint lifecycle and planning