Jira Goals Setup Guide: Track Strategic Objectives Across Your Projects

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Most teams face a common problem with goal management. Strategic objectives live in PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets, or Confluence pages. These goals stay completely separate from where team members do their actual work in Jira.

Here's what typically happens. Leadership sets ambitious OKRs during quarterly planning meetings. Team members hear about these goals once. Then everyone returns to their daily Jira epics, sprints, and workflows. The strategic goals disappear into the background.

Atlassian recognized this fundamental gap. They developed Atlassian Goals to bridge strategy and execution within their product ecosystem. However, the goals feature still sees inconsistent adoption across organizations. Many teams repurpose Jira epics as makeshift goal containers. Others rely on informal tracking through Slack notifications, Microsoft Teams discussions, or static Confluence documentation.

This comprehensive tutorial shows you multiple approaches for building goal tracking systems directly inside Jira Software, Jira Service Management, and other Atlassian products. 

You'll discover how to use native Atlassian functionality alongside automation features. The goal is creating systems that integrate with your team's daily workflow. You won't add another layer of administrative overhead.

Why Plan Goals in Jira 

Let's start with an important truth. Not every team needs formal goal tracking. Some organizations aren't ready for structured goal planning. Others simply don't need it yet.

Think about early-stage companies or teams in rapidly changing environments. These groups often skip formal goal planning entirely. Priorities shift too frequently to justify the overhead. Managers work hands-on with team members. Everyone understands what needs to happen without shared roadmap documentation. This approach works perfectly fine. Until it doesn't.

Here's what changes as organizations grow. Teams expand beyond a handful of people. New team members join who lack context about strategic priorities. Stakeholders in different departments start losing track of what everyone else is working on. Projects move forward, but the bigger picture becomes unclear. Contributors lose sight of how their daily tasks connect to business outcomes.

This transformation typically follows a predictable pattern. The Smartsheet organizational maturity model outlines five stages of growth. These stages progress from Informal to Defined, then Integrated, Strategic, and finally Optimized. Goal tracking usually becomes essential around the Integrated stage. This happens specifically when alignment and transparency start directly impacting team performance and business outcomes.

Many teams default to Confluence pages, Google Docs, or PowerPoint presentations for goal planning when they reach this stage. These tools aren't inherently bad choices. They work well for documentation and communication. However, they create a fundamental problem. Goals end up living completely separate from the delivery system where actual work happens.

Most importantly, people forget about goals during daily work. When your team members spend their days in Jira epics, user stories, and task management, strategic objectives in other systems become invisible. The disconnect grows larger over time.

Jira solves this fundamental problem by keeping goals close to execution. When you track goals directly in your Jira project, several important benefits emerge naturally.

1. First, goals connect to real work automatically. Team members can see exactly which tasks, epics, and initiatives contribute to specific strategic objectives. Progress tracking becomes automatic because it's built into the workflow. You don't need separate status updates or manual reporting processes.
2. Second, everyone stays aligned without extra effort. Stakeholders and contributors access the same information in real time. The Atlassian team designed Jira to be a single source of truth for work management. When goals live in the same system, alignment happens naturally.
3. Third, progress becomes genuinely measurable. You can use custom fields, dashboards, and automation features to track progress automatically. Smart Templates can standardize how teams structure goal-related work. The metrics and reporting capabilities in Jira Software and Jira Service Management provide real visibility into goal achievement.
4. Fourth, context-switching disappears from your workflow. Team members don't need to manage updates across Confluence, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and spreadsheets. Everything lives in the system they already use for daily work management.

Finally, communication improves dramatically. Slack or Microsoft Teams notifications can trigger automatically as progress happens. Stakeholders receive relevant updates without needing to ask for status reports. The sidebar in Jira can show goal context right alongside task details.

This approach works effectively for both formal OKR frameworks and lightweight internal objectives. Even if your Atlassian team isn't ready for company-wide goal management, planning inside Jira creates clarity without introducing additional tools or administrative overhead.

What is Atlas?

Atlas is Atlassian's native solution for goal tracking across teams, projects, and departments. The system gives structure to high-level objectives like OKRs or strategic initiatives by creating direct connections to specific work items in Jira. This connection helps teams understand how their daily tasks contribute to broader company outcomes.

The Atlas for Jira Cloud app comes included by default across all Jira Cloud plans and brings strategic visibility into day-to-day project tracking:

• Available in Free, Standard, Premium, and Enterprise Jira Cloud plans
• No additional licensing or installation required
• Integrates directly with existing Jira Software and Jira Service Management workflows

The app creates links between Atlas goals and Jira epics or any higher-level issue type in your project hierarchy. This gives teams a real-time view of how current projects support long-term objectives. Teams can track project status, goal progress, and strategic context all in one place.

Each goal gets its own dedicated page where you can manage all aspects of goal tracking:

• Assign an owner responsible for goal updates and progress reporting
• Link related Jira epics, subtasks, and entire projects to show contributing work
• Add monthly goal updates documenting progress, decisions, and learnings
• Document risks, blockers, and mitigation strategies
• Define timelines with target dates and milestone tracking
• Keep stakeholders informed through automated notifications and follow features

 

When Atlas Works (and When It Might Not)

Atlas works best for teams that need structured, visible goal tracking across departments and stakeholders. This typically applies to organizations operating at the Integrated or Strategic stages of maturity that we discussed earlier.

Larger teams with established processes benefit the most from Atlas. The system provides particular value when stakeholders need regular insight into progress without creating micromanagement situations. The automated notifications and dashboard views help maintain transparency while respecting team autonomy.

How to Create a Goal in Atlas

Getting started in Atlas is simple:

1. Go to Atlassian Home and select Create > Goal
   
   
2. Enter a name, assign an owner, and set a target date
   
   
3. Link relevant Jira issues, epics, or projects
4. Add followers to keep stakeholders in the loop

 

From the goal page, you can expand the setup with:

• Sub-goals to represent team-specific contributions
  
  
• Goal types like OKRs or broader KPIs
  
  
• Tags, descriptions, and a scoring system (0.0–1.0 scale for OKRs)
  
  

This setup allows your organization to connect strategy with delivery using the tools you already work in. Check Atlas documentation for details.

However, Atlas might feel too formal for certain situations. Small teams or early-stage startups often find structured goal tracking premature for their needs. In fast-changing environments, strategic objectives shift too frequently to justify the overhead of formal goal management.

If your team isn't ready to adopt a comprehensive goal-tracking structure, consider starting small:

• Create one goal linked to your top roadmap priority. 
• Track monthly goal updates and link contributing Jira work items to this single objective. 
• Use this pilot approach to validate whether Atlas fits your organization's current needs and working style.

Remember that Atlas comes enabled by default across all Jira Cloud tiers. If you choose not to use the goals feature, admins can disable it through Apps, then Manage Your Apps, then Atlas for Jira Cloud. This gives you flexibility to experiment with goal tracking without committing to company-wide adoption immediately.

Alternative Ways to Set and Track Goals in Jira

Let me teach you about goal tracking options when you're not using Atlassian Atlas. Understanding these alternatives is important because not every team needs Atlas, and some organizations prefer building custom solutions that fit their specific workflow requirements.

Your approach will depend on which Jira plan your organization uses. Different tiers of Jira Cloud provide different capabilities for creating custom issue hierarchies and project structures.

Understanding Your Options Based on Jira Plans

Think of this decision like choosing the right foundation for building a house. Jira Premium gives you more structural flexibility, while Jira Standard requires creative workarounds to achieve similar results.

Jira Premium allows you to create custom issue types and position them above epics in your project hierarchy. This means you can build a natural goal-to-epic relationship where epics become child issues of goals. The hierarchy flows logically from strategic objectives down to specific deliverables.

Jira Standard takes a different approach because of technical limitations. Since epics represent the highest available issue type in Standard plans, you cannot nest them under another level. However, this doesn't prevent effective goal tracking. You just need to use custom issue links instead of hierarchical relationships.

Let me walk you through both methods so you can choose the approach that matches your current Jira setup.

Setting Up Goals in Jira Premium

Jira Premium gives you the most straightforward path to goal management. You can create a custom issue type called "Goal" and position it strategically in your project hierarchy.

• Start by navigating to your project settings and finding the Issue Types section. Here's where you'll create your new goal container. 
• Add a new issue type and name it "Goal" or "Objective" depending on your organization's terminology.
• Give this new issue type a distinctive icon and clear description. Something like "Used to track quarterly goals, OKRs, or strategic initiatives" helps team members understand when to use this issue type versus regular epics or tasks.

The real power of this approach becomes apparent when you configure the hierarchy. Position your Goal issue type above Epics in the project structure. This creates a natural flow where Goals contain multiple Epics, and Epics contain their usual child issues like Stories and Tasks.

Think about how this hierarchy supports your team's daily workflow. When team members work on individual stories, they can easily see which epic contains that story. When they look at the epic, they can immediately understand which strategic goal it supports. This visibility helps everyone understand how their daily work contributes to bigger outcomes.

The hierarchy also makes reporting and tracking much simpler. Jira's built-in dashboards and reporting features understand parent-child relationships automatically. You can create metrics that roll up progress from individual tasks all the way to strategic goals without complex custom configurations.

Creating Goals with Custom Issue Types in Jira Standard

Jira Standard requires a different approach because of the epic limitation I mentioned earlier. However, you can still create effective goal tracking systems using custom issue links.

Begin the same way by creating a new issue type for goals in your project settings. Navigate to Issue Types and add your "Goal" issue type with an appropriate icon and description.

Here's where the approach diverges from Jira Premium. Instead of creating hierarchical relationships, you'll use custom issue links to connect goals with the work that supports them.

• Create a new issue link type in your Jira settings. 
• Call it something descriptive like "Contributes to goal" or "Supports objective." This link type will serve as the connection mechanism between your strategic goals and the epics or tasks that help achieve them.
• Create a Goal issue for each strategic objective your team needs to track. 
• Then create your epics and other work items as you normally would. Use the custom "Contributes to goal" link to connect relevant epics and tasks to the appropriate goal.

This approach maintains clear relationships while working within Jira Standard's constraints. Team members can still see how their work connects to strategic objectives. They just need to follow the issue links instead of viewing a hierarchical structure.

The linked approach offers some unexpected advantages. It provides more flexibility in how work items relate to goals. A single epic might contribute to multiple goals, which can be difficult to represent in strict hierarchies. Custom links handle these complex relationships more naturally.

Practical Configuration Tips

Let me share some practical advice for implementing either approach effectively in your Jira project.

• Start with custom fields that capture the information you need for goal tracking. Create fields for goal owners, target dates, success metrics, and current status. These fields help standardize how team members document and track progress across different goals.
• Configure your workflow to support goal management activities. Add transition screens that prompt for goal updates when moving issues through different statuses.
•  Consider adding workflow validators that require certain goal-related information before allowing transitions to completion.
• Set up automation rules that support your goal tracking process. For example, create rules that automatically notify stakeholders when goal status changes or when target dates approach. Automation can also update parent goals when child epics reach completion.

Think about how notifications will work for your team's communication patterns. Configure Jira to send goal updates through email, Slack, or Microsoft Teams depending on where your team members prefer to receive project information.

The key insight here is understanding that both approaches can work effectively. Jira Premium offers more elegant hierarchy management, while Jira Standard provides sufficient functionality through custom links and creative configuration. Choose the approach that matches your current technical constraints and team workflow preferences.

Make Goal Planning Part of Your Workflow

The fundamental shift happens when you move goal planning from separate documents into your actual work system. Traditional approaches create a gap between strategic objectives and daily execution. Teams set goals in presentations or Confluence pages, then return to their Jira epics and tasks where those goals become invisible. This separation causes team members to lose sight of how their individual work advances business objectives.

Jira-based goal tracking eliminates this disconnect by keeping objectives visible during daily work activities. When strategic goals live alongside epics, user stories, and project management tasks, alignment happens naturally. Team members see goal context in their sidebar while working on individual tasks. Project managers track both delivery progress and strategic advancement using the same dashboards. Stakeholders receive updates that connect project completion to business outcomes.

This approach works effectively across different goal frameworks and organizational structures. Automation features eliminate administrative overhead while maintaining consistency. The closer your strategic objectives live to the actual delivery system, the more likely your team is to achieve those goals consistently.

Check out Smart Tools for Jira on Atlassian Marketplace.

FAQ: Jira Goal Planning With Atlas and Custom Solutions

How do I create a goal in Jira using Atlassian Goals?

Navigate to Atlassian Home, select Create, then choose Goal to set up your objective with an owner and target date. Link relevant Jira epics and projects to track progress automatically. The goals feature works across all Jira Cloud plans and integrates with Jira Software and Jira Service Management.

Why don't I see the goals feature in my Jira project or sidebar?

Check that Atlas for Jira Cloud is enabled in your Atlassian products and that Goals is toggled on in project settings. The goals feature appears in the sidebar by default for all Jira Cloud plans. Project admins can control visibility settings for team members in both Company-Managed and Team-Managed projects.

Can I link goals to Jira epics and track them in my roadmap?

Yes, you can link goals to multiple Jira epics and view them in Jira Software's roadmap and timeline views. Use dashboards to track progress metrics and filter your backlog by specific goals. The integration shows how epics contribute to strategic objectives in your project management workflow.

What's the difference between using Jira epics versus creating a custom Goal issue type?

Custom Goal issue types provide better project hierarchy than repurposing Jira epics for strategic objectives. In Jira Premium, you can position Goals above epics naturally, while Jira Standard users need custom link types. This separation keeps your Scrum workflow clean while maintaining strategic context for team members.

Does Atlas support sub-goals and OKR frameworks for project management?

Atlas supports sub-goals and key results using a 0.0-1.0 scoring scale perfect for OKRs. You can create goal hierarchies that align with teamwork structures across departments. The Atlassian team designed the system to work with various goal frameworks beyond just OKRs.

How can I automate goal updates and notifications in Jira?

Atlas sends automated notifications for goal updates and integrates with Slack and Microsoft Teams for status updates. Use Automation for Jira to trigger notifications when linked epics reach completion or target dates approach. This reduces manual work while keeping stakeholders informed through their preferred workflow.

Can I disable the goals feature if my team isn't ready for structured goal tracking?

Yes, admins can disable Atlas Goals through Apps > Manage Your Apps in their Jira Cloud instance. Many teams in the Atlassian Community start with templates and gradually adopt structured goal tracking as their project management maturity increases. You can re-enable the feature anytime your team is ready.