Atlassian Rolls Out New Goals Feature: Streamlining Long-Term Progress Tracking

This tool is designed to help teams focus on long-term objectives by aligning various projects and streams of work under common outcomes. These outcomes can be framed using popular methodologies such as OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), SMART goals, and more.

What Are Goals?

Atlassian Goals represent significant outcomes that take longer periods to achieve, with multiple teams and projects contributing toward their completion. The dedicated goal page is designed to track progress, ensuring alignment across the organization. Key information included on each goal page consists of:

• Goal name
• Owner (the individual responsible for the goal)
• Contributing teams
• Linked items (sub-goals, projects, Jira epics)
• Key updates (risks, learnings, decisions)
• Start and target dates

This consolidated view provides transparency, enabling everyone within the organization to understand how individual contributions fit into the broader goals.

Why Are Goals Important?

One of the biggest challenges teams face is maintaining clear and consistent communication. Often, team members struggle to see how their day-to-day tasks contribute to overall organizational objectives. Atlassian's Goals aim to address this by centralizing information in an easily accessible format. Rather than relying on frequent status update meetings, team members can now provide monthly updates asynchronously, ensuring all stakeholders are aligned without unnecessary meetings.

How to Create a Goal in Atlassian

Creating a goal in Atlassian is straightforward:

1. Navigate to Atlassian Home.
2. Select the "Create +" button and choose the Goal option.
3. Provide a descriptive name and assign an owner, who will be responsible for maintaining goal details and updates.
4. Once the goal is created, additional details such as linked projects, sub-goals, and contributing teams can be added.

Monthly Updates and Progress Tracking

At the start of each month, goal owners are prompted to provide updates on progress. Followers of the goal receive these updates on the 8th of each month, ensuring consistent communication. Each update covers the status (On track, Off track, At risk), risks, and major learnings, giving all followers clear insights into the goal's progression.

Sub-Goals and OKR Framework Integration

Atlassian Goals also support the use of sub-goals, allowing organizations to break down larger objectives into manageable parts. This is particularly useful for teams using the OKR framework. Objectives should be clear, action-oriented, and inspiring, while Key Results define how success will be measured. Atlassian recommends limiting company-level objectives to three, with no more than five Key Results per objective to ensure clarity and focus.

Goal Scoring

Teams using the OKR framework can leverage goal scoring to measure progress. Atlassian utilizes a 0.0 to 1.0 scale, where 0.7 is considered a target score, indicating the goal is on track. Scores higher than 0.7 suggest that teams are exceeding expectations, while lower scores signal that adjustments may be needed.

The Future of Goals in Atlassian

By providing a single source of truth for long-term objectives, Atlassian’s Goals feature is poised to enhance organizational transparency and alignment. As teams continue to adopt this tool, they can expect fewer status meetings, clearer accountability, and greater visibility into how individual contributions drive broader organizational success.