Understanding Signals

Signals are automated flags that surface conditions in your portfolio worth your attention. StartConsole monitors your initiatives continuously and raises a signal whenever it detects something that may require a decision — a budget issue, a delivery delay, a widening OKR gap, or a capacity problem.

What a signal looks like

Each signal displays three pieces of information at a glance:

• Severity badge — Watch, At Risk, or Critical. Watch means the situation is developing and worth monitoring. At Risk means action is likely needed. Critical means the condition requires immediate attention.
• Flag category — tells you what type of issue was detected, such as Budget, Delivery, OKR, Capacity, or Dependency.
• Recommended action — a short, plain-language suggestion for what to do next.

Navigating to signals

Open the Signals page from the left sidebar. This is your central view of all active flags across the portfolio. Each row shows the initiative name, signal category, severity badge, date raised, and the owner responsible.

Click any signal row to navigate directly to the affected initiative. The initiative page opens at the relevant tab — for example, a budget signal opens on the Budget tab.

Filtering signals

Use the filter bar at the top of the Signals page to narrow what you see:

• Filter by category to focus on one type of issue (e.g. show only Delivery signals)
• Filter by initiative to see all signals raised against a specific initiative
• Filter by severity to prioritise Critical signals first

Acting on a signal

When you open a signal, read the recommended action. Update the affected area — adjust a budget, mark a deliverable complete, reassign capacity — and the signal will resolve on the next computation cycle if the condition no longer applies. If the situation needs a recorded decision, log it in the Decisions section before closing out.