> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docket.hypertext.studio/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Updates and health

> A paragraph saying how it is going, plus one of three verdicts everyone else reads.

Post an Update on a Project, Program, or Initiative to say how it is going, and set one of three
verdicts with it. That verdict sets the item's **health**, which everyone else reads from
[Portfolio](/docs/guides/daily/portfolio).

## The three verdicts

| Health      | Means                                                    |
| ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| `on_track`  | It is going the way it should.                           |
| `at_risk`   | Something is threatening it. Nothing has gone wrong yet. |
| `off_track` | It has already slipped.                                  |

You set health. Docket never infers it from ticket counts or burn-down slope. The Spring Gala can
be 80% complete and failing.

## Writing a good update

<Steps>
  <Step title="Say what changed">Cover the period since your last update.</Step>

  <Step title="Say what is in the way">
    Name the blocker and who owns it. Name what you are waiting on.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the verdict honestly">
    Post `at_risk` early and everyone can help. An `on_track` posted the week before a slip erodes
    trust in the whole signal.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>Write for someone who last looked two weeks ago.</Tip>

## Where Docket shows your verdict

* The item's own record, in order.
* [Portfolio](/docs/guides/daily/portfolio), as the health chip on every row.
* The [Inbox](/docs/guides/daily/inbox) of anyone following the item.
* The published **brief**, when the project is published.

An Initiative rolls up health from every Program and Project linked to it. Post one honest
`off_track` on "Fall term enrolment" and "Grow revenue" reports it too.

## Attention flags

Initiatives raise their own flags: `off_track`, `at_risk`, or **stale**. Stale means nobody has
posted an update in long enough to trust the health signal. An absent update never counts as a good
one.