Creating Work Cards

There are three ways to create work cards in Joyous, each suited to a different workflow. Whether you're adding a quick task, populating an outcome with several cards, or letting AI generate a full breakdown, the result is the same: a trackable card with a goal, status, and link back to an outcome.

Creating from the Work Cards page

The global Work Cards page gives you a centralized view of all cards across your organization.

1. Navigate to Work Cards

   Click Work Cards in the sidebar to open the full card list.

2. Click New Card

   Hit the New Card button to open the creation form.

3. Set the goal and outcome

   Write a clear goal for the card — "Build responsive navigation component" — and assign it to an outcome. This links the card to the goal it supports.

4. Add details

   Fill in optional fields: document content for specs or context, assignees, effort estimate, and any constraints.

Inline creation within outcomes

When you're on an outcome's detail page, you can add cards directly without leaving the context.

1. Open the outcome

   Navigate to the outcome you want to add cards to.

2. Click Add Card

   Use the Add Card dropdown in the outcome header. You can create a new card or add an existing card from another context.

3. Fill in the card details

   The card is automatically linked to the current outcome. Just set the goal and any additional properties.

This is the fastest way to build out an outcome's work breakdown — stay on the outcome page and add cards one by one.

From AI Decompose

The most powerful way to populate an outcome is to let the AI agent generate cards for you.

1. Open the outcome and click the AI button

   On the outcome detail page, click the AI button (sparkle icon) and select Break into work cards.

2. Review suggested cards

   The AI generates a grid of suggested cards, each with a name, goal, effort estimate (like "2 hours" or "1 day"), and dependency information.

3. Accept cards individually or in bulk

   Click Accept on individual cards, or Accept All to add every suggestion. Click Preview to inspect a card before deciding.

Accepted cards are created immediately under the outcome in Backlog status. You can edit them, reassign them, or commit them to a sprint right away.

Setting card properties

Regardless of how you create a card, you can configure:

• Goal — What completing this card achieves
• Document content — Rich text specs, notes, or requirements
• Assignees — One or more team members
• Effort estimate — Expected time to complete
• Sprint — Which sprint this card is committed to
• Priority — Relative importance
• Constraints — Any limitations on how the work should be done

Next Steps

• Work Cards Overview — Return to the full overview of card features
• AI Decompose — Learn more about AI-powered card generation