Work Cards Overview
The atomic unit of work — create, assign, and track tasks through statuses.
Work cards are the building blocks of execution in Joyous. Every card represents a single, actionable piece of work — whether it's building a feature, writing a document, or reviewing a design. Cards live under outcomes, flow through statuses, and can be committed to sprints for time-boxed delivery.
What is a work card?
A work card is the atomic unit of work. Each card has:
- Name — A concise description of the task
- Goal — What completing this card achieves
- Document content — Rich text for specs, notes, or detailed requirements
- Status — Where the card is in its lifecycle
- Assignees — The people responsible for doing the work
- Sprint — The time-boxed cycle this card is committed to (optional)
Cards belong to an outcome, creating a direct link from individual tasks to organizational goals. This means every card you work on traces back to something that matters.
Status lifecycle
Every work card moves through a clear lifecycle:
- Backlog — Identified but not yet planned. The card exists but no one has committed to it.
- Committed — Planned and ready to work on. Typically committed to a sprint.
- Blocked — Waiting on a dependency, decision, or external input.
- Done — Completed. This card's work counts toward its outcome's progress.
- Archived — No longer relevant. Removed from progress calculations.
Cards transition through statuses as work progresses. You can change status from the card's detail page, from board view columns (via drag-and-drop), or from the list view.
Only cards in Done status contribute to outcome progress. Cards in Archived are excluded entirely, and all other statuses count as incomplete.
AI-powered card management
Work cards integrate with the Joyous AI agent through three actions:
- Analyze readiness (Scope) — Get a pre-flight check on whether a card is well-defined enough to start
- Improve specification (Refine) — AI suggests improvements to the card's goal and document content
- Execute work — AI-assisted task execution
Access these from the AI button on any card's detail page.
Work card features
Creating Cards
Create cards manually, inline, or from AI decomposition.
Learn moreStatuses & Workflow
Move cards through statuses with board and list views.
Learn moreAssignment & Collaboration
Assign cards and collaborate with comments.
Learn moreRich Text & Documents
Write rich content with the TipTap editor.
Learn moreNext Steps
- Creating Work Cards — Learn the different ways to create cards
- Statuses & Workflow — Understand the full status lifecycle