The mechanism
The six task states
The mechanics here are simple. The words are not, and the words are the part that decides whether somebody comes back to the page on Thursday.
A household using a tool like this is, by definition, not managing to do everything. That is the situation that brought them. A system which reflects that back at them as a verdict has taken something from people who had nothing spare, and it does it in the exact language a well-meaning product uses without noticing.
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todoNeeds an ownerNobody has picked this up yet. Untouched, and untouched only. This is not a judgement, it is the most common state on a healthy plan, and it names the specific thing that would move it: a name.
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doingIn progressSomeone is on it. Stays visible regardless of ordering, because something a person has already started must never fall off the screen.
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doneCompletedConfirmed by a person. Never inferred from time passing, and never reopened.
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declinedNot for usThe household decided this one is not worth pursuing. Recorded neutrally, treated as resolved, and never chased. Deciding something is not worth your time is a real and legitimate outcome.
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blockedWaiting on something elseThis one is waiting on another step before it can move. The blocker is named, so the state is an explanation rather than a dead end.
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expiredFollow-up neededThe plan reached its end before this one was resolved. It is still worth doing. A statement about the plan, never about the household.
Three rules the wording holds to
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Untouched is not a verdict
The most tempting word in this entire product is the one that describes an unstarted task as a shortcoming. It would be shorter, and it would be wrong, and the household would be right to close the page.
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We do not know is never rendered as nothing happened
The household confirms. The system never assumes a task was completed because time went by, and it never assumes the opposite either. Three states, not two: done, not done, and not yet known.
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Unresolved is a finding about the plan
When a plan closes with items still open, the honest sentence names what happened without assigning fault: the steps that stalled were the ones nobody had put a name against. That is a useful observation. Anything sharper is just a cost with no benefit.
These are not preferences held by whoever wrote the copy. The banned wording is checked automatically, so a future well-intentioned edit that describes a household as falling short does not reach anybody. A tone rule that lives only in a style guide is a tone rule that lasts until the next deadline.
Which states count as still open
Needs an owner, in progress and waiting are open. Completed and not for us are resolved.
Follow-up needed is deliberately in neither group. The plan ended, so it is not open, but the thing is still worth doing, so calling it resolved would be a lie of tidiness. It sits on its own, and a household can pick it back up at any time.
The summary tells the truth
When a plan closes it reports the real numbers, including the unresolved ones. Eleven tasks, six completed, three still unresolved when the plan ended. A summary that quietly omits the last figure is a marketing document, and the honest count is the entire argument for doing any of this.
Last reviewed 29 July 2026
The part that does not end
One plan finishes. The driving, the meals and the appointments do not.
Follow-through closes out a single plan and then stops, on purpose. The ongoing work of a family sharing care is a different job: who is taking him on Thursday, who is picking up dinner, who is quietly doing all of it. That is what Family Observatory is for.