Create objectives (updated details panel)

This article describes the updated objective details panel. For information about the legacy objectives details panel, click here.

Objectives are high-level goals that teams, programs, solutions, and portfolios achieve through the delivery of work. In Jira Align, you can create and organize objectives at each of these levels to ensure cross-team collaboration and focus.

Objectives and key results (OKRs) is a goal-setting framework that provides a measurable method of outcome management. They connect work to strategy by answering the question “What do we want to achieve?” based on how linked work contributes to desired outcomes.

OKRs may be arranged in a hierarchy: team objectives can have a program objective set as a parent, and program objectives may be children of solution or portfolio objectives. View objective hierarchies from the OKR hub.

Create and manage objectives on the objectives page:

1. Select Portfolios, Solutions, Programs, or Teams in the top navigation bar and select the entity you want to create objectives for.
2. On the sidebar, select More items in the list of options.
3. Select Portfolio objectives, Solution objectives, Program objectives, or Team objectives, respectively; the objectives page displays.

Topics in this article:

• Create an objective
• Define the objective
• Define the hierarchy
• Define dates
• Add stakeholders
• Add more details

Create an objective

To create an objective:

1. On the objectives page, select the Add Objective button from the top-right of the page.
   Note: You can also create an objective from anywhere in Jira Align using the Create button in the upper-right of the screen.

The objectives details panel displays with limited fields. As you fill in the fields, additional fields will display. For an overview of all available details panel fields and modules, check out the Understand the objectives details panel article.

Define the objective

Define the basic details of your objective:

1. At the top of the details panel, enter your objective summary.
2. In the description field, enter a short description for your objective.
3. Select the Save button directly underneath the description field to save your description.

Define the hierarchy

In the hierarchy section, define your objective’s place and relation to the people and objective hierarchies.

1. Select the objective tier: team, program, solution, or portfolio. This cannot be edited once an objective has been created.
2. Use the portfolio, solution, program, and/or team fields to associate the teams that will take responsibility for the objective.
   At this point, you may select Save in the upper-right to save your changes, or continue defining the objective.
   Note: Additional fields may be required before saving, based on what’s defined in details panel settings.
3. If the objective contributes to a higher-level objective or goal, select the parent from the corresponding dropdown. The following display as parent options:
   • For portfolio objectives, yearly goals are shown for the direct parent level.
   • For solution-level objectives, only portfolio objectives aligned to the solution team’s parent portfolio.
   • For program objectives, only portfolio or solution objectives aligned to the program team’s parent portfolio/solution.
   • For team objectives, only program objectives aligned to the team’s parent program.
4. If your objective affects a key result in its parent objective, align your objective to a parent key result in the corresponding field. An objective can only be associated with key results for the objective’s parent objective.
5. Select a status in the corresponding dropdown. By default, the status is set to pending, but you can select a different status if it better describes the objective.
6. For portfolio objectives only, and if turned on in details panel settings, select a related theme in the corresponding dropdown.

Define dates

In the dates section, you can define when the objective will be worked on.

1. Select one or more program increments for the objective in the corresponding dropdown.
2. In the anchor sprint dropdown, select the anchor sprint (also known as sync sprint) by which the objective should be completed.
3. In the start date field, set the date when the objective will start. This date is used to do strategic planning activities more effectively.
4. In the due date field, set the date by which the objective should be completed.
5. In the blocked field, select whether the objective is currently blocked.

Add stakeholders

In the stakeholders section, you can add key people who are interested in the objective.

1. Select an objective owner from the owner dropdown. By default, the field is automatically populated with the user who’s creating the objective. Only users who have access to the objective’s team (portfolio, program, etc.) can be selected as the objective owner.
2. To add additional contributors to the objective, select the Add contributors button to select one or more users.

Add more details

Optionally, use the more details section to add additional details about the objective:

1. Add additional notes about the objective in the notes field.
2. From the category dropdown, select the type of the objective:
   • Critical path: The critical path is a series of tasks that controls the end date of the project.
   • Stretch goal: Stretch goals push the team to work harder to meet more difficult targets.
3. From the type dropdown menu, set the type of objective:
   • Feature finisher: An objective that lists activities needed to bring a feature to market.
   • Non-code: An objective where no coding or testing activities are needed. This type is usually used for business objectives.
   • Incremental delivery: An objective that delivers a portion of business value to market. This type is usually used for beta or limited release evaluation periods.
   • Event: Indicates the objective is a specific date or event. 
4. Set the health for the objective in the corresponding dropdown. This represents the health of the objective and its deliverables on the organizational level.
5. Use the tags field to enter free-form keywords associated with the objective that will assist when searching for the objective.
6. Select the planned and delivered value in the corresponding dropdowns.

When you’re satisfied with your work, select Save in the upper-right to create the objective.

After creating an objective, you can create and update key results, as well as add aligned work items, child objectives, and linked items to monitor progress and add additional context.