Idea management
Ideas (idea items) are the first step before creating a work item. They represent proposals, improvements, or initiatives that need evaluation before committing to implementation. Think of ideas as an inbox for everything your team wants to build.
What is an idea
An idea is a unit of work in the evaluation phase. Unlike a work item (which is already planned on a board), an idea lives in a separate space where it can be discussed, approved, or discarded without affecting active planning.
Ideas are linked to a project and can receive user feedback, which informs the decision-making process about what to build next. See Feedback and Promotion and traceability to understand the full workflow.
Create an idea
Click New idea within the project's ideas section. Fill in the fields:
| Field | Required | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Yes | Brief description of the idea | "Add PDF export to reports" |
| Description | No | Expanded detail of the proposal | "Users are requesting the ability to download reports in PDF format..." |
| Owner | No | Person responsible for evaluating the idea | Maria Garcia |
| Due date | No | Deadline for making a decision on the idea | 2025-03-15 |
Idea statuses
Each idea goes through a lifecycle defined by four statuses:
| Status | Description | Next action |
|---|---|---|
| Pending | The idea is awaiting review | Approve or reject |
| Approved | The idea has been approved for implementation | Promote to work item |
| Rejected | The idea has been discarded | Can be reopened if circumstances change |
| Promoted | The idea has been converted into a work item | See Promotion and traceability |
To change the status, use the action buttons in the idea detail view.
Assign an owner
The owner of an idea is the person responsible for evaluating it and making a decision. Assign an owner from the idea detail by selecting a team member in the Owner field.
The owner can:
- Change the idea's status (approve, reject)
- Group related feedback
- Promote the idea to a work item once approved
Due date
Assign a due date to set a decision deadline. This is useful for preventing ideas from sitting indefinitely in pending status. The due date does not block any actions -- it is a visual indicator for the team.
Mark as discussed
You can mark an idea as "discussed" to indicate that it has been reviewed in a meeting or planning session. This indicator is independent of the status: a discussed idea can still be in pending status if a final decision has not yet been made.
Listing and filters
The ideas view shows all ideas in the project with filtering options:
| Filter | Description |
|---|---|
| Status | Pending, Approved, Rejected, Promoted |
| Owner | Filter by assigned person |
| Search | Search by title or description |
Promote to work item
When an idea is approved, you can promote it to a work item. This process creates a new work item on the project's board while maintaining full traceability between the original idea, the associated feedback, and the resulting work item.
See Promotion and traceability for the detailed process.
Seeds and their relationship to Ideas
Seeds represent an earlier stage than Ideas in a proposal's lifecycle. While Ideas are proposals with a defined approval workflow (pending, approved, rejected, promoted), Seeds are raw material at an earlier stage: notes, observations, or unrefined inputs that can evolve into Ideas or directly into work items.
Key differences
| Aspect | Seeds | Ideas |
|---|---|---|
| Stage | Raw material, exploratory | Structured proposal |
| Statuses | draft, active, to_review, approved, archived, rejected | pending, approved, rejected, promoted |
| Evaluation | Collectively in Planning Sessions | Individually with assigned owner |
| Outcome | Feed into Planning Sessions or get promoted directly | Get promoted to work items |
Promotion flows
There are two paths to convert proposals into work items:
Ideas flow (individual evaluation):
Idea (Pending) --> Approved --> Promote to work item
Seeds flow (collaborative ideation):
Seed --> Selected for ideation --> Planning Session --> Work items generated
Seeds can also be promoted directly to work items when they are in approved status, similar to Ideas.
Feedback and clustering
Both Seeds and Ideas can receive user feedback. The system allows:
- Linking feedback to existing Seeds or Ideas
- Feedback clustering through AI analysis to group similar comments
- Sentiment analysis to identify patterns in received feedback
Clustering helps identify recurring themes that deserve to become formal Ideas or feed Planning Sessions with aggregated data.
Ideas are available via MCP with the following tools:
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
list_idea_items | List ideas with optional filters |
get_idea_item | Get idea details |
create_idea_item | Create a new idea |
update_idea_item | Update an idea's data |
delete_idea_item | Delete an idea |
set_idea_item_status | Change the status (pending, approved, rejected) |
assign_idea_item_owner | Assign an owner |
set_idea_item_due_date | Set the due date |
promote_idea_item | Promote the idea to a work item |
toggle_idea_item_discussed | Mark/unmark as discussed |
Example: an AI agent can use list_idea_items to review pending ideas, analyze linked feedback with get_idea_item, and execute promote_idea_item to convert approved ideas into work items ready for implementation.
Related: Feedback | Promotion and traceability | Work Items