Keeping Objectives Current: Stale Objectives and Nudges

An objective that nobody has touched in weeks is not a plan; it is a wish. Engage watches for that and says so, plainly, so the owner can fix it in a minute.

What Stale means

An in-progress objective is Stale when there has been no check-in answer and no key result update for two check-in intervals, and at least 14 days. An objective on a weekly cadence goes stale after 14 quiet days; one on a monthly cadence after 60. The badge names the window when you hover it.

How to clear it

Any real update clears the badge: answer the check-in card, or move a key result on the objective page. Editing the description or renaming the objective does not count, because neither says anything about progress.

Finding stale objectives

On the Objectives board and list, press the Stale chip in the filter bar to show only stale objectives. Administrators also see a count of stale objectives on the Admin tab and can list them there.

The nudge

Each weekday morning Engage looks for stale objectives and gives each owner an extra check-in card for it, on top of the regular cadence. It sends one card per stale stretch and never stacks a new card on one that is already waiting. The card is the ordinary check-in, so the owner can move the key results right there.

Nudges respect your organization's objective nudge settings and any season snooze the owner has set; an administrator can turn objective nudges off for the whole organization.

Why it matters

The people who follow an objective read its numbers to decide what to do next. A stale objective makes every one of those decisions worse. Fifteen seconds on a check-in card keeps the numbers true.