Initiatives

How to create, organise, and update projects, initiatives, or tasks in Tability

Initiatives capture the work you are doing to move a key result forward. Every initiative belongs to a key result, so your team can see how day-to-day execution connects to measurable progress.

This guide uses the default term initiative. Workspace admins can rename objectives, outcomes, and initiatives under Settings → Customise. See Customise terms.

Create initiatives while editing a plan

Use the Plan Editor when you are drafting goals and initiatives together.

1. Open the plan and click Edit content.

2. Add or select the key result that the initiative will support.

3. Press Tab from the key-result row, or use the add control in that row, to start an initiative.

4. Enter the initiative title. Add an owner and due date when those details are known.

5. Continue adding initiatives, or click Back to plan dashboard when you are finished.

You can also use Generate initiatives when AI goal-setting is available in your workspace. Review generated suggestions before adding them to the plan.

Create initiatives from a published plan

Open the plan and select the Initiatives tab. The exact label follows your workspace terminology.

Choose the view that fits the job:

• Board groups initiatives into your workspace's active status columns. Click Create initiative in the appropriate column. You can drag a Tability-managed initiative to another column to change its status.

• Listing groups initiatives under their objectives and key results. Use the plus button on a key-result row to add an initiative directly to it. Turn on Hide completed initiatives when you only want to review active work.

• Timeline places initiatives by due date. Click Create initiative in the week where the work is due. Tability uses the end of that week as the initial due date.

Board and Timeline require the plan to have a start and finish date. Some views also depend on your workspace subscription.

Create or complete initiatives during a check-in

The check-in form includes the initiatives attached to the key result. From there, you can:

• mark an initiative as complete

• add a new initiative

• generate initiative suggestions when AI is available

Use the main initiative panel when you need to change other details or write a full status update.

Edit an initiative

Click an initiative anywhere in Tability to open its details panel. If you have edit access, you can update:

• the title and description

• status

• owner and contributors

• due date and tags

• related links

The panel also shows the related key result and the initiative's status-update history. Integrated initiatives must be updated in their source tool when Tability marks those fields as read-only.

Post a status update

Use a status update when a status change needs context—for example, when work is blocked, ready for review, or handed off.

1. Open the initiative.

2. Click New status update.

3. Select the new Status.

4. Add a concise comment explaining what changed, any blocker or decision, and the next step.

5. Click Save.

Changing the status from the initiative panel or Board is useful for a quick workflow move. New status update is better when teammates need the reason behind the change.

Default initiative statuses

Workspace admins can rename or disable initiative statuses under Settings → Customise. New workspaces start with these statuses:

• Backlog: Captured but not scheduled.

• Planned: Scheduled, but work has not started.

• Design: Being explored, scoped, or designed.

• In Progress: Actively being worked on.

• In Review: Waiting for review, approval, or verification.

• Ready: Validated and ready for the final release or handoff step.

• Blocked: Cannot progress without help, a dependency, or a decision.

• Done: Completed successfully.

• Abandoned: Deliberately stopped without completion.

A common flow is Backlog → Planned → Design → In Progress → In Review → Ready → Done. Use Blocked as a temporary detour and Abandoned when the team has decided to stop.