Jobs

Engagement Layer / Jobs

Intro

A job is an execution framework for coordinating operational tasks carried out by agents, automations, and enterprise systems to achieve specific business outcomes. Unlike workflows that follow predefined steps or directly perform actions, a job captures the intent, scope, policies, and constraints guiding how the tasks should be carried out. By setting the objective once, business users delegate the orchestration of required capabilities to Joule, monitoring the situation, making decisions within established policies, and engaging users when necessary. The value of jobs lies not only in automation itself but in reliably operationalizing automation and ensuring work remains observable and auditable.

Core Principles

<div> <div>Principle</div> <div>Description</div> </div> <div> <div><strong>Outcome-Oriented</strong></div> <div>Defined by desired outcomes, not execution steps</div> </div> <div> <div><strong>Persistent</strong></div> <div>Persist beyond single runs; operate continuously or periodically</div> </div> <div> <div><strong>Policy-Governed</strong></div> <div>Operate within defined autonomy levels, escalation rules, and capability constraints</div> </div> <div> <div><strong>Orchestrated</strong></div> <div>Define the framework; Joule coordinates execution of underlying capabilities</div> </div> <div> <div><strong>Observable</strong></div> <div>Full visibility into signals, execution history, and decisions</div> </div> <div> <div><strong>Accountable</strong></div> <div>Each job has a responsible owner and complete audit trail</div> </div>

Anatomy

Job Contract (Core)

Defines how the job operates and what outcome it ensures.
Includes:

Job contract

Job contract

Job State

Represents the current lifecycle status of the job.
Typical states:

States change based on signals, execution progress, and user interaction.

Signals & Situations

Job signals

Job signals

Jobs ingest and interpret system signals such as:

These are:

Users never deal with raw system noise – only contextualized operational insights.

Job Runs

Job runs

Job runs

A job is the persistent container.
A job run is a specific execution instance triggered by:

Example:

Job Cards

Job detail view

Job card

Primary representation of Jobs across all surfaces.
Contain:

Variants:

Cards act as:

Job Detail View

Job detail view

Job detail view

Full inspection layer for:

Used for:

Job Types

Ad-Hoc Jobs

One-time execution for a specific outcome.

Manual Reusable Jobs

Saved patterns that can be triggered repeatedly.

Standing Jobs

Persistent jobs that remain active over time and supervise an ongoing operational concern.

Characteristics:

  • Continuously active
  • Event-driven, scheduled, or both
  • Monitor signals over time

Autonomous Jobs

Standing or event-driven jobs that are allowed to take bounded action without user input.

Characteristics:

  • Policy-bound autonomy
  • Auto-resolve low-risk cases
  • Escalate ambiguous, material, or policy-sensitive cases
  • Require clear execution contract and guardrails

Behavior and Interaction

Job Creation

Jobs are created through:

1. Conversational creation (primary)

User expresses intent → Joule proposes job → user reviews and activates

2. Template-based creation

Predefined jobs configured via parameters

3. System-suggested jobs

System detects patterns → suggests creating a job

Qualification

Not every action becomes a job.

A job is created only if:

Otherwise, interaction remains ephemeral.

Configuration

Users can:

Changes are tracked as part of the Job history.

Surfaces

Jobs do not rely on a fixed UI.

Instead, they surface across interaction points.

Users experience jobs through a combination of:

1. Contextual surfaces (primary)

2. Management surfaces (secondary)

Conversational Interaction Patterns

Conversations are the entry and explanation layer.

Users can:

Jobs appear as:

Explainability

Explainability is built into jobs at multiple levels:

During Creation

During Execution

During Decision Moments

Post Execution

Explainability feature in jobs

Explainability example

Governance

Ownership

Each job has an owner :

Owners are responsible for:

Autonomy Levels

Audit & Compliance

The system records:

The system ensures: