When I want to add a feature to an initiative, I can open the feature and look up an initiative record to make my selection. That lookup shows me both the initiative name and the reference number. When I do that same action when creating a brand new feature on the create layout, I only see the initiative name and do not see the reference number.
In cases where the same initiative name exists across multiple timeframes, this makes it impossible to know which one I am selecting. If the create page also included the reference number as the edit view does, I could see which is the earlier or later initiative based on their relative reference numbers and could choose the proper one.