Operately Releases

Redesigned Project Pages, Task Management, AI Executive Coach, and more

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Operately v1.1 is here! This release brings redesigned Project Pages, comprehensive Task Management, and Alfred, your company’s AI executive coach. We’ve also added SMTP email delivery for self-hosted installations and added sorting capabilities to docs & files.

Redesigned Project Pages#

Following the successful redesign of Goal Pages in v1.0, we’ve now given projects the same treatment. The new project pages bring everything you need into a single, organized view with improved navigation and better information hierarchy.

The redesigned project page brings together all project details - description, milestones, tasks, contributors, discussions, and activity — into a single, unified interface. You can easily view project status, monitor progress against milestones, and access all related conversations without switching between different screens.

The new layout makes it easier to understand project scope, identify what needs attention, and see who’s responsible for each aspect of the work.

Break Projects into Actionable Steps with Tasks#

All projects now include a comprehensive task management system through the new Tasks tab. Break down your projects into specific, actionable tasks and track their completion with dedicated task workflows.

Create and organize tasks within projects
Assign tasks to team members with clear ownership
Set due dates and priorities for better planning
Track task status from creation to completion
Link tasks to project milestones and deliverables

This addition bridges the gap between high-level project planning and day-to-day execution. While projects define what you’re building and why, tasks define the specific steps needed to get there. Team members can now see exactly what they need to work on and when, making project execution more predictable and organized.

Meet Alfred: Your AI Executive Coach (Beta)#

In this release, we are introducing Alfred, your company’s AI executive coach, now available in beta. Alfred reviews your goals and projects, spots gaps, and provides clear, actionable feedback that helps instill the operational discipline many startups lack.

Alfred analyzes your work structure and provides insights on:

Goal alignment and clarity across teams
Project scope and resource allocation
Potential risks and dependencies
Progress patterns and bottlenecks
Strategic gaps in your work map

This AI coach helps leadership teams make better decisions by surfacing insights that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Since Alfred is still in beta, we’re actively gathering feedback to refine its capabilities and ensure it delivers meaningful value to teams of every size. To join the beta, request access via our contact page: https://operately.com/contact/?help-type=ai-access.

Additional Improvements#

This release also includes several enhancements based on user feedback:

SMTP Email Delivery (Self‑hosted): Self-hosted installations can now use SMTP for email delivery. Use SMTP with Amazon SES, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or your own SMTP server. See [SMTP configuration][smtp-conf] for more information.

File Sorting: You can now sort items in docs & files by name, creation date, *or modification date. This makes it easier to manage a growing document library *and quickly find the files you need.

Ready to experience Operately v1.1? Sign up for a free account and see how these new features can transform how your team works together.

Self-host in 5 minutes#

Prefer to use your own infrastructure? Follow our self-hosted installation guide to get Operately running on your servers in minutes.

If you are already running the self-hosted version, follow the upgrade guide to update to the latest release.

Join the Operately community#

Operately is open source and available under the Apache 2.0 license. Join our growing community of users and contributors:

Star the repository on GitHub to show your support
Join our Discord server to connect with the team and community
Contribute by submitting bug reports, feature requests, or code on GitHub
Share Operately with your network and help us grow

Special thanks to our contributors#

We’re grateful for everyone who has contributed to making Operately better. Your feedback, bug reports, feature suggestions, and code contributions help shape the product for the entire community. Thank you for being part of this journey with us.

Your contributions help make Operately better for everyone. Thank you!

— The Operately Team

Work Map, Project Discussions, Streamlined Workflows, and more

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Operately v1.0 is here! This release brings the new Work Map for visualizing goals and projects, dedicated Project Discussions, and streamlined workflows. Quick Add makes it simple to plan goals and projects for a quarter or year, helping teams stay aligned and work efficiently.

We’re confident to call it v1.0#

After several months of rapid iteration and feedback from our early adopters, Operately has matured beyond its initial vision. The jump from v0.4 to v1.0.0 marks our transition from experimental releases to a stable, feature-rich platform ready for wider adoption. This milestone reflects our commitment to reliability, usability, and delivering core features that teams need to manage work at scale.

Work Map: Visualize all work across your organization#

The new Work Map gives you a clear, hierarchical view of all ongoing work in your company or within specific spaces. Goals and projects are organized in a parent-child structure, so you can see how high-level objectives break down into smaller goals and projects. This hierarchy helps everyone understand how individual pieces of work contribute to broader company priorities.

For example, a top-level company goal might have several subgoals, each with their own projects. The Work Map displays these relationships visually, making it easy to trace progress from the smallest project up to the company’s main objectives.

Company Work Map shows all goals and projects across your entire *organization, helping leadership and team members see how work is distributed *and track overall progress.

Space Work Map focuses on goals and projects within specific teams, so space members can stay aligned on current priorities and ownership.

Key features include filtering tabs to view different types of work, progress indicators, status badges, owner information, and the ability to navigate between spaces. Work Maps automatically update as work progresses, giving you real-time visibility into your organization’s efforts.

Project Discussions: Collaborate where the work happens#

Every project now has dedicated Project Discussions. Have focused conversations about project scope, decisions, blockers, and updates right where the work is happening.

Project Discussions keep context close to the work, making it easier for team members to stay informed and contribute meaningfully to project success.

Quick Add: Map out your quarter in minutes#

Planning your quarter or year just got simpler. Quick Add is built right into the Work Map, letting you quickly create goals and projects as you’re mapping out your plans. No need to navigate between different screens or interrupt your planning flow.

Whether you’re setting up quarterly goals or sketching out a year-long roadmap, Quick Add keeps you in the zone. Create goals and projects on the spot, then organize them exactly where they belong in your work structure.

Redesigned Goal Page#

The new Goal Page brings everything you need into a single, organized view. See your goal description, targets with real-time values, and all connected subgoals and projects in one place. The redesigned layout makes it easy to track what’s working, what needs attention, and who’s responsible for each piece of work.

Check-ins, discussions, and activity feed directly into the goal page, so you always have the full context of progress and decisions.

New Profile Pages#

The new Profile Pages provide a complete view of each team member’s work and contributions. See what someone is working on, what they’re reviewing, what they’ve completed, and their recent activity—all in one place. The page highlights assigned work, progress indicators, due dates, and next steps for each person.

Your own profile is now available from “My work” in the top navigation and looks just like everyone else’s. This unified experience makes it easier to understand your responsibilities, track your progress, and compare workloads across the team. It also fosters transparency and alignment, since everyone sees the same information in the same way.

Perfect for understanding workloads, checking on project ownership, and getting context on who’s responsible for what.

Streamlined Goal & Project Workflows#

We’ve refined the core workflows that teams use every day by addressing pain points we saw in earlier versions:

Streamlined Goal/Project Statuses

Before: Projects and goals each had their own status sets, optimized for their specific workflows. But when viewing everything together, these subtle differences created noise and made it harder to get a clear picture.

Now: We’ve unified statuses for both goals and projects. This consistent approach makes it easy to scan all work at a glance, spot what needs attention, and understand progress across your organization.

Simplified Goal Creation

Before: Creating goals felt overwhelming, with too many required fields on a single page—such as defining all targets, choosing a champion and reviewer, setting visibility, and writing a description—which led to inconsistent objectives.

Now: The new process guides you step-by-step, focusing only on the essentials: the name of the goal and which team is responsible. You can fill in additional details later on the goal page, making it easier to get started and refine your objectives as you go.

Simplified Goal Check-Ins

Before: Check-ins were a bit of a guessing game. You could say how a goal was going, but it rarely told the whole story. Reviewers had to chase down details or ask follow-up questions just to understand what was really happening.

Now: Check-ins are straightforward and focused. You answer three things: What’s the status? Is the due date still accurate? How’s progress? The new check-in page puts everything front and center—no hunting for info, no back-and-forth. Everyone gets a clear, honest update in seconds.

Product documentation#

We’re also releasing our comprehensive Help Center with detailed guides on every feature. Whether you’re setting up your first goal or exploring advanced features, you’ll find step-by-step instructions and best practices to get the most out of Operately.

Ready to experience Operately v1.0? Sign up for a free account and see how these new features can transform how your team works together.

The service remains free while we’re in beta.

Self-host in 5 minutes#

Prefer to use your own infrastructure? Follow our self-hosted installation guide to get Operately running on your servers in minutes.

If you are already running the self-hosted version, follow the upgrade guide to update to the latest release.

Join the Operately community#

Operately is open source and available under the Apache 2.0 license. Join our growing community of users and contributors:

Star the repository on GitHub to show your support
Join our Discord server to connect with the team and community
Contribute by submitting bug reports, feature requests, or code on GitHub
Share Operately with your network and help us grow

Special thanks to our contributors#

We wouldn’t be here without the people who’ve rolled up their sleeves and helped shape Operately. You’ve given feedback, fixed bugs, built features, and made the product better for everyone. Thank you for being part of this journey with us.

Your contributions help make Operately better for everyone. Thank you!

— The Operately Team

Docs & Files, New Homepage, Redesigned Space Dashboard, and more

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Operately v0.4 is here, packed with improvements that make your Operately experience even better. In this release, we’re introducing document management, improving the homepage and space dashboards, and introducing new roles for account administration.

Docs & Files: A central hub for all your work documents#

Every space now has a dedicated Docs & Files section. Create, upload, and organize documents right where your team is working. No more searching through email threads or Slack channels to find that one document you need. Documents live where the work happens.

Redesigned homepage#

We’ve rebuilt the homepage for clarity. You’ll see all your spaces laid out with the people who are part of them.

On the bottom of the page, you’ll see a feed of all the activity happening in your company. All your team’s updates, project progress, and goal completions stream into this feed. No digging required.

New space dashboard#

We’ve redesigned the space dashboard to give you a better overview of what’s happening in your space. The new dashboard provides a snapshot of all the projects, goals, discussions, and documents in the space, so you can quickly see what’s going on and where you need to focus your attention. All your team’s updates, project progress, and goal completions that belong to the space stream into the space activity feed.

Unified Goals & Projects#

Goals & Projects should be two sides of the same coin. Goals are the outcomes you want to achieve, and Projects are the work you need to do to get there. In Operately v0.4, we’ve unified Goals & Projects into a single view, so you can see how they relate to each other and track progress more easily.

Company admins and owners#

Administering your Operately account is now easier than ever. We have split the role of Company Admin into two separate roles: Admins and Owner.

The Admin role is perfect for users who need to manage the day-to-day operations of your Operately account. They can invite new users, adjust company settings, adjust profiles of employees, and offboard users who are no longer with the company. The role is perfect for HR, IT, Security, Compliance, and other roles that need to manage the account.

The Owner role is for the person who has ultimate control over the account. They can do everything an admin can do, plus they can delete the account and manage admins and owners. Owners have full and direct access to all data in the account, including private spaces, projects, and goals.

Draft messages#

Often you need multiple passes to get a message just right, or you need to collaborate with your team before sending it. In Operately v0.4, you can now save messages as drafts, review them with your team before sending, or come back to them later and finish them.

Starting from this release, we’re opening up Operately to the public.

You can now sign up for a free account to get started.

The service is free of charge while we’re in beta.

Self-host in 5 minutes#

If you’d prefer to use your own infrastructure, follow the self-hosted installation guide. You can install Operately on a small (1 CPU, 2GB) machine in 5 minutes.

Join the Operately community#

Operately is open source and available under the Apache 2.0 license. We’re excited to build a community of early adopters and contributors. Here’s how you can get involved and help shape the future of Operately:

Star the repository on GitHub to show your support and help us gain visibility
Join our Discord server to connect with the team and other community members
Contribute by submitting bug reports, feature requests, or code on GitHub
Spread the word: Share Operately with your network of friends and colleagues

We hope you enjoy using Operately as much as we enjoy building it. Stay tuned for our next release, scheduled for next month!

— The Operately Team

Streamlined Notifications, Private Spaces, Space Managers, and more

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Operately 0.3 is here, packed with improvements that make your Operately experience even better. In this release, we’re focusing on reducing noise, improving focus, making it easier to manage confidential work, and giving you a comprehensive oversight of who has access to your spaces.

Notification Improvements: Less Noise, More Focus#

We’ve all been there. You open the app, and there’s a flood of notifications. Some are important, but some are no longer relevant. You spend time sifting through them, trying to find the ones that matter. To improve the experience, Operately now auto-detects which page you’re on and clears notifications tied to that content. No more notification overload—just a cleaner, more focused experience.

Private Spaces for Confidential Work#

Operately now supports private spaces, for when you need to keep your work confidential. Projects, discussions, and goals created in this space are only visible to the people you invite.

While Operately is designed to promote transparency and collaboration, we understand that some information needs to be kept private, e.g. sensitive customer data, financial information, or confidential information disclosed with HR.

To create a private space, click on the “Create Space” button. The default access level is “Company-wide”, but you can change it to “Invite-only” by clicking edit and selecting “No access” for company members.

Space Managers#

Spaces have a new role: Space Managers. Space Managers have full access to a space, including the ability to invite people, create projects, and manage access, and complete access to all projects within the space.

They play a key role in keeping things organized, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks, and wrapping up loose ends. Whether it’s managing access or maintaining project alignment, Space Managers help keep everything running smoothly, making sure the space remains focused and efficient.

One-click oversight of who has access to a space#

We just fixed a headache you might not even know you had: having a complete, unambiguous list of people who have access to your space.

As a company grows, keeping track of who can access what becomes challenging. Now, you can see all people who are not direct members of the space but can implicitly view it based on their company membership.

We’ve made it simple:

Go to a space -> Manage Access
At the bottom, click “show all”

You will see all people who are not directly assigned as members to the space but can implicitly view it based on their company membership.

Get started: Self-host in 5 minutes#

Follow the self-hosted installation guide to take Operately for a spin: you can install it on a small (1 CPU, 2GB) machine in 5 minutes.

If you’d prefer to use Operately as a SaaS, sign up for the cloud waiting list.

Join the Operately community#

Star the repository on GitHub to show your support and help us gain visibility
Join our Discord server to connect with the team and other community members
Contribute by submitting bug reports, feature requests, or code on GitHub
Spread the word: Share Operately with your network of friends and colleagues

We hope you enjoy using Operately as much as we enjoy building it. Stay tuned for our next release, scheduled for next month!

— The Operately Team

Project Retrospectives, People Management, Notification Controls, and more

Wed, 09 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Operately 0.2 is packed with improvements that make it easier to communicate with your team, manage access, and stay compliant. Let’s dive in and see what’s new.

Project retrospectives are now communication hubs#

Project retrospectives are a powerful method for learning and improving. They help you reflect on what went well, what didn’t, and what you can do better next time. But they’re often overlooked or done half-heartedly, especially when you’re moving fast. That’s why we’ve built them into Operately.

In this release, retrospectives are now communication hubs. You can react to them, comment on them, and edit them if you’re the author. This makes it easy to keep the conversation going openly and learn from your team’s insights.

Onboard and offboard people faster#

The new Company Administration page puts more control at your fingertips.

Company admins can now:

Assign manager-reporter relationships
Update profiles, including titles and roles
Add multiple people to the organization at once
Suspend accounts for offboarding in one click

To access this page as a company admin, click on the company dropdown menu -> Company Admin -> Manage Team Members.

Manage who does what on your projects#

We’ve upgraded how Operately handles project team changes. Now it’s easier to match people’s roles to their real responsibilities.

Promoting people to champions and reviewers is now a breeze. Say your lead developer Sarah steps up to manage a critical feature launch. In seconds, you can promote her from contributor to project champion in seconds. She gets the right access, and you keep moving.

You can add multiple people to a project at once, each with their own role. For instance, if three software engineers join a project, each responsible for a different part of the system, you can add all three at once, assigning them specific responsibilities and keeping everyone in the loop.

Security and compliance: One-click access oversight#

We just fixed a headache you might not even know you had: having a complete, unambiguous list of people who have access to your project.

As a company grows, keeping track of who can access what becomes challenging. It’s a security risk waiting to happen. And when the auditors come knocking? Good luck explaining, without hard evidence, that because Lana has X level of access to a space, she also has Y level access to a belonging project.

We’ve made it simple:

Go to a project -> Manage Team & Access (see screenshot above)
At the bottom, click “show all”

You will see all people who are not directly assigned as contributors to the project but can implicitly view it based on their company or space membership.

Your inbox, your rules: New subscription controls#

You can now control who will receive notifications for any type of message you send across spaces, projects, and goals. Stay updated on the discussions that matter to you and tune out the ones that don’t. Whether it’s project updates, comments, or notifications, you can easily manage what shows up in your inbox with just a click.

Get started: Self-host in 5 minutes#

Follow the self-hosted installation guide to take Operately for a spin: you can install it on a small (1 CPU, 2GB) machine in 5 minutes.

If you’d prefer to use Operately as a SaaS, sign up for the cloud waiting list.

Join the Operately community#

Star the repository on GitHub to show your support and help us gain visibility
Join our Discord server to connect with the team and other community members
Contribute by submitting bug reports, feature requests, or code on GitHub
Spread the word: Share Operately with your network of friends and colleagues

We hope you enjoy using Operately as much as we enjoy building it. Stay tuned for our next release, scheduled for next month!

— The Operately Team

The First Public Alpha Release

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

We’re stoked to unveil the first alpha release of Operately – the open source startup operating system.

This initial release zeroes in on the core pillars of startup execution:

Goals: Ditch the fuzzy OKRs. Operately helps you forge a crystal-clear direction with a hierarchy of goals and projects.
Projects: Operately gives you structured, accountable projects that drive progress. No more guessing what’s on track – you’ll see it instantly.
Accountability & Communication: “Who’s doing what?” and “What’s the status?” become questions of the past. Establish clear roles and set up regular check-ins to keep everyone aligned and information flowing.

There are definitely some rough edges, but we’re releasing early because we believe in building in public and iterating based on real user feedback.

Why Operately?#

Strong execution is a competitive advantage. But current collaboration tools fall short in helping you attain it.

By connecting your plans directly to your day-to-day execution, Operately creates a single source of truth for the entire company. It’s like having a COO co-founder who never sleeps, always knows what’s going on, and keeps everyone focused on what matters.

Self-host in 5 minutes#

Take Operately for a spin: you can install it on a small (1 CPU, 2GB) machine in 5 minutes. Follow the self-hosted installation guide.

If you’d rather use Operately as a SaaS, sign up for the cloud waiting list.

Get involved#

Operately is open source and available under the Apache 2.0 license. We invite you to help shape the future as an early member of the community:

Join the conversation in Discord
Contribute bug reports, feature requests, and code on GitHub

We hope you enjoy using Operately as much as we enjoy building it. Here’s to many more releases to come.

— The Operately Team

Operately Releases

Redesigned Project Pages, Task Management, AI Executive Coach, and more

Redesigned Project Pages#

Break Projects into Actionable Steps with Tasks#

Meet Alfred: Your AI Executive Coach (Beta)#

Additional Improvements#

Sign up for Operately#

Self-host in 5 minutes#

Join the Operately community#

Special thanks to our contributors#

Work Map, Project Discussions, Streamlined Workflows, and more

We’re confident to call it v1.0#

Work Map: Visualize all work across your organization#

Project Discussions: Collaborate where the work happens#

Quick Add: Map out your quarter in minutes#

Redesigned Goal Page#

New Profile Pages#

Streamlined Goal & Project Workflows#

Product documentation#

Sign up for Operately#

Self-host in 5 minutes#

Join the Operately community#

Special thanks to our contributors#

Docs & Files, New Homepage, Redesigned Space Dashboard, and more

Docs & Files: A central hub for all your work documents#

Redesigned homepage#

New space dashboard#

Unified Goals & Projects#

Company admins and owners#

Draft messages#

Sign up for Operately#

Self-host in 5 minutes#

Join the Operately community#

Streamlined Notifications, Private Spaces, Space Managers, and more

Notification Improvements: Less Noise, More Focus#

Private Spaces for Confidential Work#

Space Managers#

One-click oversight of who has access to a space#

Get started: Self-host in 5 minutes#

Sign up for the cloud waiting list#

Join the Operately community#

Project Retrospectives, People Management, Notification Controls, and more

Project retrospectives are now communication hubs#

Onboard and offboard people faster#

Manage who does what on your projects#

Security and compliance: One-click access oversight#

Your inbox, your rules: New subscription controls#

Get started: Self-host in 5 minutes#

Sign up for the cloud waiting list#

Join the Operately community#

The First Public Alpha Release

Why Operately?#

Self-host in 5 minutes#

Get involved#